Section 153A additions in unabated years require incriminating search material; book entries alone cannot support additions.

For an unabated assessment year, section 153A permits additions only where incriminating material is found during search and linked to the proposed addition. Where the disputed items were already reflected in the assessee's books of account and no seized material supported the additions, the assessment could not be reopened on that basis. The settled assessment had attained finality on the date of search, so the Revenue could not sustain additions under section 153A without incriminating evidence. The Revenue's appeal therefore failed.

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

Analysis: The additions were made on the basis of items already reflected in the assessee's books of account. No incriminating material discovered in the search was linked to the disputed additions. The assessment had attained finality on the date of search, and the time limit for notice under section 143(2) had expired. In such circumstances, the jurisdiction under section 153A for an unabated year is confined to additions based on seized incriminating material.

Conclusion: The additions were not sustainable under section 153A and the Revenue's appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: For an unabated assessment year, additions under section 153A can be made only on the basis of incriminating material found during search; where no such material exists, additions based merely on books of account cannot be sustained.

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