No Credit of excise duties paid on opening stock Under GST to trader !

Sec 145 of the Model GST law is reproduced below

A registered taxable person, who was not liable to be registered under the earlier law or who was engaged in the manufacture of exempted goods under the earlier law but which are liable to tax under this Act, shall be entitled to take, in his electronic credit ledger, credit of eligible duties and taxes in respect of inputs held in stock and inputs contained in semi-finished or finished goods held in stock on the appointed day subject to the following conditions

(i) such inputs and / or goods are used or intended to be used for making taxable supplies under this Act;

ii) the said taxable person was eligible for cenvat credit on receipt of such inputs and/or goods under the earlier law but for his not being liable for registration or the goods remaining exempt under the said law

iii) the said taxable person is eligible for input tax credit under this Act

iv) the said taxable person is in possession of invoice and/or other prescribed documents evidencing payment of duty / tax under the earlier law in respect of inputs held in stock and inputs contained in semi-finished or finished goods held in stock on the appointed day;

v) such invoices and /or other prescribed documents were issued not earlier than twelve months immediately preceding the appointed day

The above section makes it clear that a manufacturer who was availing ssi exemption or was manufacturing items exempt under Central excise act would entitle to take credit of excise duty paid on raw material lying in stock or contained in finished/semi finished goods lying in stock on appointed day say 1 april 2017

however a trader seems to be at disadvantage because of the following two conditions

1) requirement of invoice or other document evidencing payment of duty ,

now if a traders has purchased excise paid goods not from a manufacturer/ first stage dealer/ second stage dealer , he would not be having excise invoice even though excise was paid when goods were cleared from the factory

2) he must be entitled to claim cenvat credit under central excise , under cenvat credit rules only manufacturer is entitled to claim cenvat credit .

if traders has stock of rs 1lacs on which excise was paid to the tune of suppose rs 7500 when goods left factory of manufacture , but the trader does not have excise invoice bcause he purchased the goods from a middleman who was not registered a first/second datge dealer , the trader would not be entitled to claim cenvat credit on this stock under GST , therby forcing him to pay Central GST in cash , and would lead to double payment of central taxes first as excise under current regime and then again as central gst .

even if the trader is in possession of excise invoice in case he has purchased goods directly from manufacture (ex automobile dealers ) would he be allowed cenvat credit of goods lying in stock on appointed day as cenvat credit rules doesnot allow cenvat credit by traders

The govt/gst council should consider the issue and prescribe proper procedure/clarification for  availing of cenvat credit on excise paid stock lying with a trader on the appointed day