Tranquilisers are not narcotic drugs for excise duty purposes; medicinal preparations without narcotics escape levy.

Medicinal preparations containing tranquilisers, but no narcotic drug or narcotic, were not liable to excise duty under Item I(iii) of the Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Act, 1955. The stated basis for the levy failed because tranquilisers were not treated as a narcotic drug or narcotic within Section 2(h), and it was common ground that the preparations contained nothing else falling within that definition. On that footing, the duty demand under Item I(iii) could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether the medicinal preparations in question, containing tranquilisers but no narcotic drug or narcotic, were liable to excise duty under Item I(iii) in the Schedule to the Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Act, 1955.

Analysis: The only basis urged to sustain the levy was that the preparations contained tranquilisers and were therefore medicinal preparations containing a narcotic drug or narcotic. The Court had already held, in a connected matter decided the same day, that tranquilisers do not fall within the relevant definition of narcotic drug or narcotic under Section 2(h) of the Act. It was also common ground that apart from tranquilisers, the preparations contained no narcotic drug or narcotic.

Conclusion: The levy under Item I(iii) could not be sustained and the petition succeeded.

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