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We use garlic in our kitchens almost every day but did you know about an ongoing debate about whether garlic is a vegetable or spice? The Madhya Pradesh High Court's Indore bench has put an end to this long-standing debate. The court has officially classified garlic as a vegetable; this decision is meant to offer more clarity to farmers and traders and make their job easier, as some of them have previously dealt with garlic as a spice.
The controversy began in 2015 when a farmers' organisation in Madhya Pradesh persuaded the mandi board to classify garlic as a vegetable. However, the Agriculture Department reversed this decision, reclassifying garlic as a spice under the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act of 1972. Soon after, the Potato, Onion, and Garlic Commission Agents Association challenged the decision in 2016, bringing the matter to the Indore bench of the High Court.
In 2017, a 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 the farmers. A petitioner named Mukesh Somani filed a review petition in July 2017, leading to the recent ruling by Justices S.A. Dharmadhikari and D. Venkataraman. The bench upheld the 2017 decision, restoring the previous system that allowed farmers to sell their produce directly in the market without paying commissions to agents.
The court concluded by stating, "Therefore, no further decision regarding its classification can be made at this time, except that it will continue to be considered a vegetable."
