SC restrains BMC from taking action against retailers for not putting up Marathi sign boards

Mumbai: In a relief to the Federation of Retail Traders’ Welfare Association (FRTWA), the Supreme Court (SC) has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to maintain status quo on the issue of the rule mandating shops and establishments to display their names in Marathi.

The FRTWA had approached the SC after their plea challenging the BMC’s decision on making Marathi signboards in Devnagri script mandatory was rejected by the high court (HC) in February this year. The BMC decision had further stated that shopkeepers failing to comply would be fined ₹1 lakh, which was also challenged by the federation. The SC has restrained the BMC from taking any action against retailers till the petition is decided in the SC.

Speaking about the development, a FRTWA member said that apart from restraining the civic authority, the SC directed the federation to furnish a list of retailers who would be covered by the interim protection.

The issue pertains to the challenge by the FRTWA to rule 35 of the Maharashtra Shops and Establishment Act, which stipulated that every commercial establishment signboard had to be in Marathi language in the Devanagari script along with any other language. The petition of FRTWA was heard by the HC division bench of justice Gautam Patel and justice Madhav Jamdar on February 23, 2022.

The federation had submitted that the rule 35 was contrary to the Act and hence imposition of a penalty of ₹1 lakh for non-compliance was akin to putting an individual under a disability. The federation also submitted that the adoption of Marathi language by the state was only meant for official purposes and hence individuals could not be forced to accept the same.

The bench was also informed that the rule violated the constitutional right of expression by making it mandatory for every establishment of more than 10 employees to have a name board in Marathi language in Devanagari script with a font size not less than that of any other language. The federation submitted that the state could not dictate its citizens in what language a signboard must be displayed as Article 14 and 19 give an unfettered right to every citizen to be the sole judge of mode and medium of expression.

However, additional government pleader Abhay Patki for the state had argued that there was no contradiction in the rule and the Act and the true intent of the petitioners was not bonafide as the rule was in existence since 2018 but the petition was filed only in 2022.

After hearing the submissions, the bench had noted in its order, “We do not find substance in any of these submissions whatsoever. There is a public purpose that is sought to be achieved by rule 35 if read correctly. We cannot divorce the operation of that rule from the sheer geographical ambit to which it applied i.e the state of Maharashtra. Marathi may be the official language of the state government but it is undeniably the mother tongue of the state.”

While rejecting the petition, the HC also imposed a fine of ₹25,000 on the federation and deposit it in the CM relief fund within a week.