With the deadline for shops and commercial establishments in Mumbai to put up Marathi signboards coming to an end, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from Monday started initiating action against those who have not done so yet. The BMC’s fourth deadline to shops for setting up Marathi signboards expired on September 30.
“We have started issuing notices to the commercial establishments. Every shop is being given seven days after the date of notice issuance for setting up the new signboard. If they fail to do so during that time, we will file a case in the court against the owners of the establishments,” said Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Special) Sanjog Kabre.
The present provision states a fine of Rs 2,000 per staffer will be imposed on shops. Kabre said if the shop owners choose to pay the fine on their own, then the BMC may not approach the court. “At present, there are more than five lakh shops and commercial establishments in Mumbai and only less than 50 per cent of these have Marathi signboards. We will take photographs of the shops as evidence as we send them notices,” he said.
The BMC appointed 60 inspectors at various ward and zonal levels for inspecting the shops. Each of these officers will inspect around 50 shops and the BMC targets to inspect 3,000 shops daily.
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Meanwhile, Federation of Retail Traders and Welfare Association (FRTWA) has written to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, urging a temporary stay on the order since the issue is pending at the Supreme Court. The FRTWA had approached the Supreme Court challenging the state’s mandate on constitutional grounds.
“An application has been filed in the SC praying for an interim stay on the order. Therefore it is humbly requested that since the matter is sub judice and the application for directions is likely to be taken up after the resumption of Supreme Court post-Dussehra break, no coercive action should be taken in this regard,” said Mohini Priya, advocate of the FRTWA, in her letter to Shinde.
The state government unanimously passed a resolution at the Legislative Assembly in February by amending the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act to mandate the setting up of signboards in Marathi above all shops and commercial establishments. The order also stated that the font size of the text in Marathi should be bigger and bolder than the font size of any other language used in the signboard.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/mumbai-bmc-action-shops-marathi-signboards-8202305/
