The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has concluded a prolonged dispute by designating garlic as a vegetable. This resolution permits the marketing of garlic in both vegetable and spice sectors. Originating in 2015, the controversy was initiated by a farmers' organisation's successful appeal to the mandi board to categorize garlic as a vegetable, a decision the agriculture department soon overturned by reinstating it as a spice under the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act of 1972. The Potato, Onion, and Garlic Commission Agents Association contested this reclassification in 2016.
Following a 2017 ruling by a single judge in favour of the association, a review petition was filed by Mukesh Somani in July 2017, leading to the current verdict by Justices S.A. Dharmadhikari and D. Venkataraman. The court's decision supports the 2017 ruling, allowing garlic producers to sell directly in markets, bypassing agent commissions. It also acknowledged the limitation of the state government's authority in altering garlic's classification, thereby solidifying its status as a vegetable.
Source: indiatvnews.com