The Bombay High Court on Friday clarified that the stay preventing Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai from penalising those shopkeepers who break the Marathi signboard rule is still in effect.

Now, the MCGM would not be able to take any “coercive action” against those shopkeepers whose signboard does not have name in Devnagari in bigger font. A traders’ association had challenged the constitutional validity of the amendment to Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act in 2001.

The amendment had said that the name in Devnagari script on the signboard should be in bigger font than the name in English or any other language. In 2001, the court had admitted the petition and restrained the MCGM from imposing a fine on shopkeepers breaking the new rule during the pendnecy of the petition.

But recently, the MCGM issued a press note seeking to implement the rule on the pretext that the petition has been disposed of. Aggrieved by this, the Federation of Retail Traders’ Welfare Association on Friday raised the issue in the High Court and argued that the original petition was still pending and it was a subsequent notice of motion that was disposed of.

The court after going through the earlier orders made it clear that the restraining order of 2001 continues, as the petition is still pending. The BMC counsel also agreed that the petitioners are right.

Last year, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had launched a violent agitation, demanding that signboards in the city must be in Marathi. The Federation had then filed a separate application in the High Court, pointing out that as per the 2001 stay, the signboards rule could not be enforced for the time being.

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