Section 153A search assessments require incriminating material; completed-year additions fail without search-based evidence.

Section 153A additions in completed assessments cannot be sustained when the search under section 132 yields no incriminating material. The Delhi HC applied the principle that section 153A does not authorise a de novo assessment for concluded years and that additions must be limited to undisclosed income unearthed as a result of search. Following Kabul Chawla, the court held that the Revenue's additions lacked the necessary search-based material and therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether additions made under section 153A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be sustained in the absence of incriminating material found during search under section 132 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The additions were made in completed assessments without any reference to material unearthed in the search. The legal position applied was that section 153A does not permit a de novo assessment in respect of completed assessments and that additions must be confined to undisclosed income found as a result of search. The prior decision in Kabul Chawla was treated as governing the controversy.

Conclusion: The additions could not be sustained, and the appeals by the Revenue failed.

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