Marathi signboard crackdown: BMC has collected over Rs 1 crore in fines, 395 shop owners went to court
395 shop owners have taken the civic body to court. Enforcement dropped sharply after 2024, prompting a fresh inspection drive and warnings of "Shiv Sena style action."
At a civic law committee meeting on Monday, BJP corporator Tejinder Singh Tiwana accused the BMC of going after small traders while letting large establishments off the hook. (Express Photo by Nidhi Jacob) The BMC has lodged cases against 1,423 establishments for not displaying Marathi signboards since November 2023, collected Rs 1.05 crore in penalties, and sent notices to 3,774 shops. Mumbai has over five lakh shops and establishments.
That gap is now at the centre of a political storm.
At a civic law committee meeting on Monday, BJP corporator Tejinder Singh Tiwana accused the BMC of going after small traders while letting large establishments off the hook. “The civic administration is biased in their action against commercial shop owners who have not set up Marathi signboards yet. They are only penalising and taking action against common shop and business owners while owners of rich hotels and industrial units are not being penalised,” he said.
Mumbai’s Deputy Mayor and Shiv Sena corporator Sanjay Ghadi responded with a warning that shop owners yet to comply within a month will face “Shiv Sena style action.”
The BMC has since appointed 60 inspectors at ward and zonal levels, each tasked with inspecting around 50 establishments daily. “We will be starting a fresh mass inspection drive starting this week where all shops and establishments will be inspected again, following which an action taken report will be submitted to the BMC’s law committee,” a senior official told The Indian Express.
Fighting back in court
Not everyone has quietly complied. Of the 1,423 establishments against whom cases were lodged, 395 have approached local courts challenging the action taken against them. Another 1,014 have decided to comply.
The process works in stages. The BMC first sends a notice. If the shop doesn’t respond, a penalty of Rs 2,000 per registered employee is imposed, with seven days to put up a new board. If the establishment still doesn’t comply, the BMC files a case in the local court and seeks suspension of the business until the signboard goes up. “After the cases were lodged, some business owners challenged our decision and the case would continue, while most of them obliged,” a BMC official said.
In February 2022, the Maharashtra government amended the Shops and Establishments Act, making Marathi signboards mandatory for all commercial establishments across the state. The law required Marathi text to be in a bigger, bolder font than any other language on the board.
The Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association challenged the move in the Supreme Court, which issued a temporary stay. When the stay was revoked in September 2023, the BMC began enforcement, giving shops till November that year to comply.
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