Himani Navratna Oil, Boroplus Cream, 3 Other Ayurvedic Products Are Drugs Not Cosmetics, Rules Telangana HC

The Telangana High Court recently clarified whether six products, namely Himani Navratna Oil, Boroplus Antiseptic Cream, Boroplus Prickly Heat Powder, Himani Nirog Dant Manjan Lal, and Sona Chandi Chyawanprash would fall under the category of cosmetics or drugs. A division bench consisting of Justice P Sam Koshy and Justice N Tukaramji ruled that while Himani Nirog Dant Manjan could be classified as a cosmetic, Himani Sona Chandi Chyawanprash, Navratna Hair Oil, Himani Gold Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream, Boroplus Antiseptic Cream and Boroplus Prickly Heat Powder fell in the category of drugs. The STAT had held that the three products, Navratna Oil, Gold Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream, Nirog Dant Manjan Lal, were cosmetics, while the other three, Boroplus Antiseptic Cream, Boroplus Prickly Heat Powder, and Sona Chandi Chyawanprash, were drugs. Despite the respondent/department’s counsel arguing that Himani Navratna Oil and Himani Gold Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream should be classified as cosmetics, the lack of substantial evidence to support this claim led to the court’s conclusion that the STAT’s categorisation under Entry 36 was incorrect.