In a major development, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is considering to postponed the deadline for changing shop signboards to Marathi, following repeated appeals from shopkeepers and restaurants’ association.
However, this move comes after traders and retailer associations on Tuesday, July 5, welcomed the new chief minister and sought more time, citing shortage of signboard artists.
In addition, the Bombay High Court (HC) asked the BMC to respond by July 8 to a plea by the Indian Hotel and Restaurants Association (AHAR) seeking six-month extension to put up Marathi signboards in Devanagari script on shops and establishments in the city.
A division bench of Justice R D Dhanuka and Justice MG Sewlikar was told by advocate Vishal Thadani for petitioner association that it had challenged the validity of the initial deadline of May 31 fixed by the civic body.
The HC will hear the plea next on Friday, July 8.
The civic body had first set the deadline on May 15, but later extended it to July 1. There are 5.08 lakh shops and establishments registered with BMC.
For those unversed, the BMC had decided to implement the Marathi signboard policy and brought out a circular in the first week of April, after the state government amended the Shop and Establishment Act in March 2022 which mandated that signboards on all shops and establishments must have names written in Marathi, that too larger than that in other languages.
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