Ayurvedic medicament classification prevails where label and composition show therapeutic use, even without dosage instructions.

Keshraj Oil was treated as an Ayurvedic medicament, not a perfumed hair oil, because its label and composition indicated therapeutic and prophylactic Ayurvedic use. The product was compared with Himtaj Oil and, following an earlier Tribunal ruling on a similar product, its essential character was found to be medicinal. The absence of literature, dosage instructions, or a doctor's prescription was not considered decisive, and the fact that the product contained aromatic ingredients did not justify classification as a cosmetic or toilet preparation. On that basis, it fell under sub-heading 3003.30 rather than heading 3305.10.

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Issues: Whether the product "Keshraj Oil" was classifiable as an Ayurvedic medicine under sub-heading 3003.30 of the Central Excise Tariff Act or as a perfumed hair oil under heading 3305.10.

Analysis: The product was compared with Himtaj Oil, whose ingredients had already been treated as those mentioned in authoritative Ayurvedic texts. The label of the product stated that its ingredients cool the scalp and relieve eye-strain and headaches, and it did not describe the product as a cosmetic or toilet preparation. The absence of literature, prescribed dosage, or doctor's prescription was held not to be decisive for treating it as a perfumed hair oil, particularly when the product was used on the scalp and not on the hair. Applying the earlier Tribunal ruling on a similar product, the product's essential character was found to be that of an Ayurvedic medicament.

Conclusion: The product was classifiable as an Ayurvedic medicine under sub-heading 3003.30 and not as a perfumed hair oil under heading 3305.10.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a product's label and composition therapeutic or prophylactic Ayurvedic character, it is classifiable as an Ayurvedic medicament notwithstanding the absence of dosage instructions or literature, and it cannot be shifted to a cosmetic heading merely because it contains aromatic ingredients.

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