The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has issued notices to 294 establishments in Mumbai for not displaying Marathi signboards, after inspecting 9,798 establishments across 10 civic wards between August 20 and September 9.
The action forms part of the second phase of the civic body’s enforcement drive to implement the Supreme Court order on Marathi name boards. The inspections covered prominent roads and corridors, including S V Road, L B S Marg and Link Road, as well as the Eastern and Western Express Highways.
Diksha Karkar, chairperson of the BMC’s law, revenue and general purposes committee, said the second phase had focused on establishments located along major roads. The inspections were conducted by officials from the civic corporation’s shops and establishments department.
The drive has also resulted in at least one establishment changing its signboard after facing civic action. According to the report, Badshah Cold Drink Depot installed a new board displaying English and Devanagari scripts in equal font sizes after the BMC issued a notice and imposed a fine of Rs 9,000.
The issue of Marathi signboards returned to the centre of civic discussions in May, when corporators raised concerns that the municipal administration was not implementing the Supreme Court order effectively. Members of the BMC’s law, revenue and general purposes committee had pointed to establishments including star hotels, rooftop restaurants owned by celebrities and multinational company outlets that displayed only English name boards.
The committee members had sought action against establishments that did not display Marathi on their signboards. The latest inspections indicate that enforcement is being directed at businesses on some of Mumbai’s busiest roads, rather than being limited to a small number of local establishments.
For businesses, the notices create a compliance requirement linked to the language and presentation of public-facing signboards. The Badshah Cold Drink Depot case also shows that the civic action can involve both a monetary penalty and a direction to replace or modify an existing board.
The BMC has not, in the report, provided a ward-wise breakdown of the 9,798 inspections or the 294 notices. It also has not specified the number of establishments that have complied following notices, apart from the example cited by Karkar. The enforcement drive is continuing under the civic corporation’s shops and establishments department.
