Cab drivers' plea against Marathi mandate listed before Bombay HC, over 4,700 notices issued so far
The petition filed by four app-based cab drivers challenging Maharashtra's Marathi language mandate is set to be mentioned before the Bombay High Court's Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge on August 26 for urgent directions.
The plea, filed through advocate Vivek Shukla on behalf of petitioners Mohammed Kasim Ahmad, Mohammed Tauseef Shaikh, Siyad Ahamad and Sadik Nasir Ali Khan, now challenges two orders — the government's original August 12 notification and an August 19 circular issued for its implementation. Beyond the language requirement itself, the petition separately objects to authorities verifying domicile certificates and conducting police checks into whether drivers have lived in Maharashtra for 15 years, calling the move an attempt to treat migrant workers "as outsiders."
Enforcement has scaled up sharply since the drive began on August 20. By August 24, Regional Transport Offices had checked 35,190 commercial passenger vehicles across the state and issued 4,729 notices to drivers found lacking working knowledge of Marathi — a steep jump from the 331 notices reported earlier, of which 139 were within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
The petition cites Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik's own public figures to argue the scale of impact: about 9.65 lakh rickshaw and taxi permits and badges have been issued statewide, and roughly 1.65 lakh non-Marathi-speaking drivers attended a 105-day government-run Marathi language campaign, the "Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Marathi Language Campaign," conducted through the Konkan Marathi Sahitya Parishad and Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh.
Sarnaik has said the practical Marathi knowledge requirement has existed under Maharashtra's rules since 1989 but was not strictly enforced until now, and that drivers found lacking are given a month to acquire the required knowledge before facing badge suspension of up to three months. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the state is not asking drivers to become "experts," only to know enough Marathi to do their jobs.
(Inputs from PTI)
