D K SANDU BROS Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE only question for decision is whether a certain preparation of Messrs. D. K. Sandu Bros. - manufacturers of Ayurvedic medicines - is a "toilet article" within the meaning of item 11 of the amended Schedule I of the Sales Tax Act. The preparation is called "Medicated Brahmi Oil" and the further description given of it on the carton is that it is "a specific for headache, burning of the eyes, insomnia, hysterical and other mental troubles, highly efficacious in falling and grey hair". The departmental authorities have proceeded on the basic premise that it is a "hair oil" and therefore a "toilet preparation" and they have considered it of no consequence that it may have certain medicinal properties.

(2.) I am not sure of the correctness of the basic premise. A commodity, which is a hair oil or is used as a hair oil, is not necessarily a "toilet article" within the meaning of item 11 to be taxed at the rate of one anna in the rupee of the sale price. An instance that could be readily cited is ordinary cocoanut oil used for hair dressing by the poorer classes. It seems difficult to lay down a hard and fast rule as to when exactly an oil becomes a toilet article. Nevertheless two essential criteria would be whether it is a preparation more complex than what might be termed crude "natural" oils like cocoanut oil mentioned already and whether the object underlying its use is mainly to prepare oneself to face the day's tasks with confidence. That, I imagine, is the prime object of all toilet. Judged by these criteria, the commodity under consideration will clearly be a toilet article.