Circumstantial evidence can sustain an income-tax finding on ownership of a bank account when the assessee offers only a bare denial.

A Tribunal's finding that a bank account in the name of a trading concern belonged to the assessee was sustained because the surrounding circumstances, taken together, supported that inference. The bank records, business address linked to property partly owned by the assessee, absence of any other person of that name at the address, prior banking relationship, nondisclosure of other accounts, and a mere bare denial were sufficient in income-tax proceedings, where conclusive proof is not required. The High Court held that the finding was supported by material and was not perverse, so the revenue's position on the referred questions was upheld.

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Issues: Whether there was material or evidence to support the Tribunal's finding that the bank account standing in the name of Oriental Traders belonged to the assessee, and whether that finding was perverse.

Analysis: The finding was upheld on the basis of surrounding circumstances taken together, including the bank records showing operation of the account in the assessee's name, the connection of the business address with property partly owned by the assessee, the absence of any other person of the same name at that address, the assessee's existing relationship with the bank, the nondisclosure of other bank accounts, and the failure to rebut the circumstances by any evidence beyond a bare denial. In income-tax proceedings, conclusive proof is not required and a conclusion may rest on the cumulative effect of proved facts.

Conclusion: The Tribunal's conclusion was supported by material and was not perverse. The question was answered in favour of the revenue.

Final Conclusion: The reference failed on the merits of the assessee's challenge to the Tribunal's factual inference, and the revenue's position on both referred questions was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: A finding of fact in income-tax proceedings may be sustained on cumulative circumstantial evidence, and it is not perverse if a reasonable tribunal could reach that conclusion on the material on record.

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