Representative image showing garlic.
Credit: iStock Photo
In a recent ruling, the Madhya Pradesh High Court ended the long-standing debate of whether garlic is considered as a spice or a vegetable and said that it can be sold both in vegetable and spice markets.
Although garlic is used as a spice for its strong flavours, it will continue to be classified as a vegetable, India Today reported citing the verdict.
This verdict will enable the sale of garlic by farmers directly in the market with no commission being paid to agents.
The entire controversy of garlic being a spice or a vegetable started way back in the year 2015, when MP’s farmer organisation persuaded the Mandi Board to categorise garlic as a vegetable. This decision was then reversed by the Agriculture Department under the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act of 1972 and reclassified garlic as a spice.
Challenging the Principal Secretary's decision, the Potato, Onion, and Garlic Commission Agent Association approached the Indore bench in 2016. In 2017, a single judge ruled in favour of the association and allowed the sale of garlic as a vegetable. This further sparked a debate among the traders who said that the decision benefited the commission agents rather than farmers.
Mukesh Somani, a petitioner filed a review petition in 2017, which led to the recent verdict by the Indore bench of Justice S A Dharmadhikari and Justice D Venkataraman.
The two judge bench upheld the 2017 ruling stating that garlic is perishable and, hence, a vegetable, thereby restoring the previous system of garlic sales.
Garlic, though classified as a spice, falls outside the state government's jurisdiction when it comes to imposing changes, the court stated, adding that no further decisions can be made regarding its classification at this time.