Put Marathi signboards in 2 months, make most of upcoming festive season: Supreme Court to Mumbai retailers

The Supreme Court on Monday advised retailers challenging the compulsory Marathi signboard rule in Mumbai to install such signboards within two months to take advantage of the upcoming festive season when sales could boom [Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association & Anr vs State of Maharashtra & Ors]. .A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan remarked that the sum incurred for the same can be claimed as business expenses."Why cannot you put a board in Marathi language? Comply, comply. Karnataka also has the same (rule). Otherwise, they will put Marathi font so small, English so big. What is the fundamental right violation? Now is the time to have Marathi signboards, ahead of Diwali, Dussehra. You are in Maharashtra, you do not know the benefit of having Marathi signboards? New signboard can be made part of your business expenditure. If we send you to the (Bombay) High Court, you will be imposed heavy costs", Justice Nagarathna said.Justice Bhuyan weighed in saying that there can now be employment opportunities for those making the new boards.The bench eventually proceeded to adjourn the matter to December, while granting two months' time to install the Marathi signboards..Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had advised the petitioner-retailers' association of Mumbai to invest in a simple signboard instead of spending money on legal fees.The bench had said that the petitioners should avoid portraying the issue as one of jingoism or xenophobia.The top court is seized of two petitions by the association on the issue.The main petition is by the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association, challenging a February 23 decision of the Bombay High Court.In the said order, the High Court had upheld an amendment to Rule 35 of the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules which mandated the installation of a "name board in Marathi."The High Court had noted that the use of other languages on display boards was not prohibited by the said amendment and that the rule was for the convenience of the local public at large.The decision was challenged in the Supreme Court, which asked the Maharashtra government to respond by an order passed in July, last year. In November 2022, the top court also ordered that no coercive action should be taken against members of the retailers' association for not complying with the rule while the case is pending. .The other petition before the Court, also by the same association, challenges the vires of the rule in question, in which notice was issued in January this year..The pleas before the Supreme Court state that the government acted beyond its powers in introducing the rule for Marathi signboards. The Marathi signboard rule has no rational nexus with the object of the rules and has led to huge financial burdens on shopkeepers, the Court was told.