Uncorroborated loose paper cannot sustain a section 69B cash addition without independent evidence or cross-examination.

An addition under section 69B based solely on a loose paper seized from a third party was held unsustainable because the document did not expressly record cash payment by the assessee and no independent enquiry, statement, or other corroborative material established such payment. The Tribunal also noted that cross-examination of the person from whose possession the paper was found was not afforded, despite the document being relied on as the basis of the addition. On these facts, the loose paper alone was insufficient to support the cash addition, and the addition was deleted.

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Issues: Whether the addition made under section 69B on the basis of a loose paper found in the possession of a third party, without any mention of cash payment and without corroborative evidence or cross-examination, was sustainable.

Analysis: The addition rested only on entries in seized loose papers said to reflect a property transaction. The document itself did not expressly record that the assessee paid cash, and the assessment order did not show any independent enquiry, statement, or other corroborative material establishing such payment. The Tribunal also noted that the assessee was not afforded cross-examination of the person from whose possession the document was seized, despite the document being used as the basis of the addition. In these circumstances, the document was treated as insufficient, by itself, to justify the addition.

Conclusion: The addition under section 69B was not sustainable and was deleted; the assessee succeeded on this issue.

Ratio Decidendi: A cash addition based solely on an uncorroborated loose paper, especially one seized from a third party and used without providing cross-examination, cannot be sustained.

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