Catguts-sutures treated as medicine and pharmaceutical preparations, not unclassified surgical goods for sales tax purposes.

Catguts-sutures were examined for sales tax classification by reference to their commercial meaning and regulatory treatment. The text notes that the Drugs and Cosmetics Act defines "drug" broadly, sterilized surgical sutures are treated as drugs for regulatory purposes, and catguts-sutures are manufactured to pharmacopoeial standards for wound stitching, haemorrhage control and healing. On that reasoning, surgery was treated as a branch of medicine and surgical use did not exclude the articles from the category of medicine. The stated conclusion is that catguts-sutures fall within "medicine and pharmaceutical preparations" and are not taxable as unclassified surgical goods.

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Issues: Whether catguts-sutures are classifiable as "medicine and pharmaceutical preparations" or as surgical goods liable to be taxed as unclassified items under the sales tax law.

Analysis: The classification turned on the nature and commercial understanding of catguts-sutures. The Court noted that under the Indian Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, the expression "drug" is wide enough to include medicines as well as substances intended for treatment, mitigation or prevention of disease, and that sterilized surgical sutures are treated as drugs for regulatory purposes. The Court further observed that catguts-sutures are manufactured to prescribed pharmacopoeial standards and are used in surgical treatment for stitching wounds, controlling haemorrhage and aiding healing. Applying the modern and common understanding of medicine, the Court held that surgery is a branch of medicine and that articles used as remedial agents in surgical treatment do not cease to be medicines merely because they are not administered orally.

Conclusion: Catguts-sutures fall within the category of "medicine and pharmaceutical preparations" and are not taxable as unclassified surgical goods.

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