Come Tuesday, BMC will prosecute shops without Marathi signboard

Mumbai: Starting Tuesday, the BMC will prosecute shops and establishments that do not display signboards in the Marathi (Devnagri) script as per the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017. The civic body will also levy a penalty of ₹2000 per staffer per shop.

The decision comes after the Supreme Court (SC) on September 25 gave shopkeepers a two-month deadline to install Marathi signboards across Maharashtra. Sanjog Kabare, deputy municipal commissioner (special), BMC, said that the crackdown was in line with government rules and following SC orders. Besides the punitive action, the civic body will also register an offence against violators and said it will bring their violations to the SC’s notice.

“We have formed teams at the ward level,” said a ward official. “The drive will start from Tuesday since Saturday, Sunday and Monday are holidays. The staff of the shop establishment department will initiate legal action as well as levy a penalty.”

The BMC, which initiated an inspection drive on October 10, had served notices to more than 3,000 non-compliant shops in just nine days. The Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA), with around five lakh shopkeepers as members, had moved the SC last year to challenge the state government’s rule mandating Marathi signboards outside every shop, big and small.

The apex court on September 25 had given retailers in Mumbai two months to install new Marathi signboards even as it agreed to consider their challenge to the rule introduced by the state last year. While hearing the petition, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan on September 25, said, “Now is the time to have Marathi signboards ahead of Diwali and Dusshera... You are in Maharashtra. You do not know the benefit of having Marathi signboards?”

Viren Shah, FRTWA president, said that the federation had been running a WhatsApp campaign to create awareness of the law among retailers. “It is in the BMC’s legal ambit to initiate action against those who have still not changed their signboards,” he said.

Shah said that approximately 5.5 lakh shop establishment licenses had been issued in the city. “Of the 5.5 lakh, three lakh are shops while the others are establishments such as clinics and private offices,” he said. “Everyone must comply. As per our records, 80 percent of shops have already followed the rules and changed the signboards.”

In 2018, the state government had made it compulsory for all shops and establishments in the state to have signboards in the Devnagri script. However, some establishments with less than 10 workers tried to evade this rule. In some cases, while the shop name was mentioned in capital letters in English, the signage in Marathi was in lower case.

In March 2022, the state legislature approved the amendment of the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017, making it mandatory for all shops and establishments to have Marathi signboards, with the Devnagri lettering being equal in size to that of English.