Book entries can prove a valid monetary gift when transfer, acceptance, and surrounding circumstances support the transaction.

A valid gift of money may be proved by contemporaneous book entries supported by surrounding circumstances, including sufficient donor balances and actual credit of interest in the donees' accounts. Transfer of property and acceptance by the donee remain essential; on the facts, those elements were established, so the gifts were treated as genuine. The minority of the donees did not by itself invalidate the gifts. The book entries were therefore accepted as corroborative evidence of the transfers, and the interest credited on the donees' accounts was allowable as a deduction in the assessee-firm's hands.

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Issues: Whether gifts made by partners to minors through adjustment entries in the firm's books were valid gifts, and whether interest credited on the donees' accounts was allowable as a deduction in the assessee-firm's hands.

Analysis: A valid gift requires evidence of transfer of the property and acceptance by the donee. Entries in the books of account may corroborate a gift if supported by other material. On the facts found, the entries were contemporaneous, the donors had sufficient balances, the firm carried on substantial money-lending business, and interest was actually credited in the donees' accounts. The fact that the donees were minors did not by itself invalidate the gifts. The Tribunal was therefore justified in treating the gifts as genuine and in accepting the book entries as supporting evidence of the transfers.

Conclusion: The gifts were valid and the interest credited in respect of the donees' accounts was allowable as a deduction in the hands of the assessee-firm.

Ratio Decidendi: A gift of money may be proved by contemporaneous book entries and surrounding circumstances, and where transfer and acceptance are established, the fact that the donees are minors does not invalidate the gift.

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