Tariff classification must follow the real nature and use of bath oils, not a suggestive label or arbitrary departmental inference.

Bath oils could not be treated as perfumed hair oils under Item 14F(ii)(b) because their commercial identity and actual use were for bathing, not hair care. The relevant tariff description of preparations for hair care applies only where the product is genuinely intended for the hair, and perfume cannot be inferred merely from an odorous character or a suggestive label image. Inconsistent departmental reasons and the absence of evidence that perfume was deliberately added meant the classification lacked support in the real nature of the product, making the proposed duty levy unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the respondent's bath oils could be classified as "perfumed hair oils" under Item 14F(ii)(b) of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, and whether the departmental classification was so arbitrary or unreasonable as to warrant interference.

Analysis: The articles were found to be manufactured and marketed as bath oils used before bathing and not as hair oils for grooming the hair. The expression "preparations for the care of the hair" in Item 14F(ii) was held to cover only oils genuinely intended for hair care, and the addition of perfume could not be inferred merely because the products had an odorous character or because the label carried a suggestive picture. The authorities had given inconsistent reasons for their conclusion, and the material did not show that perfume had been deliberately added so as to make the products "perfumed hair oils".

Conclusion: The products were not perfumed hair oils, the classification made by the excise authorities was unsustainable, and the levy of duty under Item 14F(ii)(b) could not be upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: In tariff classification, an article must answer the statutory description in commercial and functional sense, and a tax levy cannot be sustained on a mere suggestive label or on an arbitrary classification unsupported by the real nature and use of the product.

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