Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to make it mandatory for shops with less than ten employees to use Marathi’s name, a senior minister in Mumbai.
Maharashtra shops and companies (employment regulation and service provisions) ACT will be changed for this, Industrial Minister Subhash Desai told reporters.
The decision was taken at a weekly cabinet meeting, Desai said which also held the Marathi language portfolio.
The aim is to close the legal gap that the small shop owner exploits to avoid installing Marathi’s name (already needed for a larger company), he said.
In particular, Raj Thackeray-LED Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, a rival to the coalition partner of the ruler of Shiv Sena, has launched the agitation of violence in the past who demanded that a signboard be in Marathi.
Further Desai said that the amendment will also give a name on the signboard in the Devnagari script (where Marathi is written) must not be smaller than other scripts.