BMC Steps Up Marathi Signboard Inspections Across Mumbai Malls and Major Roads
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is intensifying its enforcement drive to ensure commercial establishments display signboards in Marathi, focusing inspections on prominent shops, shopping malls, and commercial centres across Mumbai in its second phase.
The civic body decided to step up the campaign following a review meeting led by Law Committee chairperson Diksha Karkar on August 13. Inspections will focus heavily on markets, shops, and commercial units situated along S.V. Road, L.B.S. Road, Link Road, and both stretches of the Eastern and Western Express Highways.
The BMC had resumed enforcement against non-compliant establishments in June. During the first phase of inspections conducted between May 14 and June 4, civic officials inspected 36,773 establishments across the city. Those inspections resulted in 1,124 inspection reports and led to court proceedings against 638 establishments.
Among the 1,124 flagged cases, 343 establishments sought to settle the violations out of court. A total of 190 establishments paid fines amounting to Rs 12.23 lakh, while proceedings for the remaining 143 cases have reached the final stage, according to civic officials.
Under the amended rules introduced in January 2022, all commercial units, including those with fewer than 10 employees, must display signboards in Marathi written in the Devanagari script. The regulations mandate that the Marathi lettering must be in a font size at least equal to that of any other language displayed on the board. The Supreme Court's compliance deadline for shops and establishments expired on November 25, 2023.
With Mumbai housing approximately five lakh shops and commercial establishments, civic officials noted that violators failing to adhere to the mandate can face daily penalties of up to Rs 2,000. The BMC has instructed ward-level officials to take stringent legal action against repeat offenders identified in earlier rounds and to publicise the enforcement actions.
