Vegetable - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition vegetable

Definition :

Vegetable, 'Vegetables' understood in common parlance are not products of manufacture unless we say that agriculture is an industry for certain purposes and vegetables are products of that industry, Saraswati Sugar Mills v. Haryana State Board, (1992) 1 SCC 418: AIR 1992 SC 224.

The word 'vegetables' does not include Pan (betel leaves). Therefore betel leaves are taxable under the provisions of the Act, Ram Bux Chaturbhuj v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 1963 SC 351 (352). [Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 (29 of 1954), s. 4]

Vegetable, cannot be given the comprehensive meaning as it bears in natural history, and it must be construed in popular sense to denote such classes of vegetable matter which are grown in kitchen gardens or in a farm and are used for table, State of West Bengal v. Washi Ahmed, AIR 1977 SC 1638: (1977) 2 SCC 246: 1977 SCC (Tax) 278: (1977) 3 SCR 149: (1977) 2 SCJ 222: 39 STC 378: (1977) 1 SCWR 604: (1977) UJ (SC) 268: (1977) Tax LR 2042: (1977) UPTC 296; Ramavtar v. Assistant, STO, AIR 1961 SC 1325.

Vegetable, has been used in opposition to the expression 'animal'. This word cannot be given the meaning of vegetables which are kept on the dining tables for dinner purposes. It has a wider amplitude. Sugarcane would be covered under the expression vegetable, Kisan Sahkari Chini Mills Ltd. v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1987 All 298.

Vegetable, in the comprehensive sense, any living organism not possessed of animal life; a plant of any kind. A plant, specifically, in common usage, a herbaceous plant, cultivated for food, as the cabbage, turnip, potato, bean, etc. also the edible part or parts of such plant, as prepared for market or table, Words and Phrases, Vol. 44.

Vegetable, is defined as 'a general term used as an adjective in referring to any kind of plant, plant life or plant product, viz., 'Vegetable matter'. More commonly and Specifically, in common language, the word is used as a noun in referring to those generally herbaceous plants or any parts of such plants as are eaten by man. The edible portions of many plants considered as vegetables are in a botanical sense fruits. The common distinction between fruits and vegetables is often indefinite and confessing, since it is based generally on how the plant or plant part is used rather than on what it is', Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 23.

Means 'a plant used or cultivated for food for man or domestic animals, as the cabbage, turnip, potato, bean, dandelion, etc., also the edible part of such a plant, as prepared for market or the table. Vegetables and fruits are sometimes loosely, distinguished by the used need of cooking the former for the use of man, while the latter may be eaten raw; but the distinction often fails, as in the case of quinces, barberries, and other fruits, and lettuce, celery, and other vegetable. Tomatoes if Cooked are vegetable, if eaten raw are fruit', See Webster's International Dictionary.

Means 'plant, especially herbaceous plant, used for culinary purposes or for feeding cattle, e.g. cabbage, potato, turnip, bean, Concise Oxford Dictionary, 3rd Edn., p. 1365.

Vegetable, must be construed as understood in common parlance and it must be given its popular sense meaning 'that sense which people conversant with the subject-matter, and so construed it denotes those classes of vegetables which are grown in a kitchen garden or in a farm and are used for the table, State of West Bengal v. Washi Ahmed, AIR 1977 SC 1638. [See also Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, Sch. I, item (6)]