Supreme Court seeks Maharashtra government's response on plea challenging mandatory Marathi signboards for shops

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Maharashtra government on a plea challenging the government decision mandating all shops and establishments within the State to display their signboards in Marathi (written in Devanagari script) [Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.]..The plea filed by Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association has challenged a February 23 decision of the Bombay High Court that had upheld the State government's decision.A Bench of Justices KM Joseph and Krishna Murari heard the matter before seeking a response from the State government.Senior Counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the petitioner, said that stones were thrown at certain establishments which did not carry Marathi signboard. "There has been stone-throwing at my shops. Can you interfere with my rights as a linguistic minority? Don't want to get into outsider debate, myself am a Malayali in Delhi. Have right to settle anywhere," Sankaranarayanan said..The Bench, however, observed that signboards in other languages have not been barred."Is your own language banned? Why have you brought in constitutional questions," the bench queried.Sankaranarayanan said that while signboards in other languages are not barred, there is a compulsion on shops to spend for Marathi signboards which amounts to an invasion of personal choice."It (signboards in other languages) has to be in size as Marathi. But it should be up to me whom I want to cater to. Having to spend on Marathi signboards is disproportionate invasion of personal choice like how vegetarianism is imposed by some," he said."In Bombay, I am not sure everyone would know Marathi. They are saying rights under Article 19 are not absolute or unfettered," he added. .The Maharashtra government had amended Rule 35 of the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules to mandate name boards in Marathi in front of every shop. The petitioner had contended before the High Court that the Rules violated Part III of the Constitution as it curtailed the freedom of expression by making it mandatory for every establishment of more than 10 employees to have a name-board in Marathi.The submission was that the State cannot dictate to its citizens as to what language a signboard must display..The High Court bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar had, however, upheld the Rule emphasising in its decision that using other languages on display boards was not prohibited, and that the rule merely required the name to also be shown in Marathi.Justice Jamdar had clarified that the Rule was for the convenience of the public at large in Maharashtra, whose mother tongue is Marathi."Marathi may be the official language of the State government, but it is an undeniably common language and mother tongue of the State. We are mindful that in some parts of the nation, there is a practice of not using any other script other than the local script. That is not the case here. No other language is prohibited or banned here. The distinction sought to be drawn between language and script is an argument of sheer desperation," the ruling had underscored.The Court had, therefore, upheld the constitutional validity of the rule terming it a reasonable requirement prompting the present appeal before the apex court..The plea before the Supreme Court, filed through advocate Mohini Priya, states that the government went beyond the limits of its delegated legislative powers in introducing such a restriction.While the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Rules is a beneficial legislation that provides for regulation of work and service conditions, the Marathi rule has no rational nexus with it and has led to huge financial burdens on shopkeepers, it has been contended. " ... they [shopkeepers] are forced to shell out amounts to the tune of Rs. 10,000-Rs. 30,000 depending on the size and the nature of the nameplate [and this] is a violation under Article 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India ... making any changes like inserting a nameplate in the vernacular language on top with the same font size as English, may result in a dilution of the brand value and loss of brand recognition ... any change in the same will not only have an impact on the business but it may amount to infringement of the provisions of the Trade Marks Act," the plea states. It has been submitted that the High Court order has led to the petitioners being made "a victim of the abuse of process of law committed by the respondents."Pertinently, the plea has claimed that the High Court ruling ignores the cosmopolitan nature of the city of Mumbai, and allows the fundamental rights of citizens engaged in private business to be 'usurped under the garb of public purpose and the ease of doing business'.