The Supreme Court on Monday gave two months to retailers in Mumbai to install new Marathi signboards even as it agreed to consider their challenge to the rule introduced last year by Maharashtra government making Marathi signboards compulsory outside every big and small shop in the state.
A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan 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?” while hearing a petition by federation of retail traders of Mumbai comprising some 5 lakh shopkeepers.
Gold Rate
Tuesday 28 Jan. 2025
Advocate Mohini Priya who appeared for the federation said that the shopkeepers are not opposed to having Marathi signboards but the rule introduced by the state government makes Marathi mandatory and the letters to be of the same font size and placed above any other language on the signboard. The shopkeepers said that replacing the existing signboards with new ones will entail a huge cost.
The bench observed, “Karnataka also has a similar rule otherwise they (shopkeepers) will put Marathi in smaller font than the other language. You comply soon or else, if we direct this petition to be filed before the high court (of Bombay), the petition will be dismissed with heavy costs.”
The retail association agreed to follow the court’s advice while maintaining that the constitutional issues raised in their petitions should be considered after two months. Priya requested for a period of four months considering the fact that the raw material and labour for making these signboards won’t be available on short notice. The bench agreed to grant them only two months.
On September 1, the Court while hearing the matter had observed, “How is it going to prejudice you by putting a board in Marathi. Rather than spending so much money on litigation in court, you buy a signboard and put it.”
Although the federation argued that Mumbai is a cosmopolitan where people from all states come, the bench had said, “Mumbai is also the capital of Maharashtra. Marathi is the official language. You should not be fighting over this. You are doing business in the state. If you put up a board in Marathi, you will get more customers. It is all about your ego.”
The rule was introduced by the state government in Section 36-A of the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (regulation of employment and conditions of service) Act last year. Last month, Maharashtra filed an affidavit which said that the use of Marathi on signboards was already part of the Rules under the unamended law and the new provision uniformly extended it to small shops with less than 10 employees as well.
