HC disposes of cab drivers’ challenge to Marathi rule after deadline extension

The Bombay High Court on Saturday disposed of a petition filed by four cab drivers challenging the Maharashtra government’s Marathi language requirement after the state extended the deadline for drivers to learn the language by one year.

Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan informed a bench of acting chief justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad that autorickshaw and taxi drivers would be given an additional year to acquire a working knowledge of Marathi.

The court accepted the state’s statement and closed the proceedings.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced the extension after meeting a delegation on Thursday. The decision has halted immediate action against non-Marathi-speaking drivers and given them more time to learn the language.

The public interest litigation, filed through advocate Vivek Shukla, had challenged the government notification issued on 12 August. The petitioners — Mohd Kasim Ahmad, Mohd Tauseef Shaikh, Siyad Ahamad and Sadik Nasir Ali Khan — contended that the notification violated their fundamental rights.

They argued that the rule was contrary to Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, which protect equality, the freedom to practise a profession and the right to life, respectively. They also claimed that the requirement exceeded the powers granted to the state under the Motor Vehicles Act.

According to the petition, the Act does not authorise the state government to make knowledge of a particular language a qualification for drivers or a condition for obtaining a badge or permit. It also does not permit the suspension or revocation of a badge solely on this ground, the petitioners maintained.

The plea warned that lakhs of economically vulnerable and migrant drivers faced the possibility of having their badges suspended and permits cancelled for failing to demonstrate a working knowledge of Marathi. Such action would directly affect their livelihoods, it said.

The petitioners had sought a stay on the implementation of the government’s decision.

The BJP-led Maharashtra government announced in April that non-Marathi-speaking commercial drivers would be required to learn basic Marathi. It initially set a deadline of 15 August and arranged language classes for them.

On 20 August, the transport department began issuing notices to commercial passenger vehicle drivers, primarily autorickshaw and taxi operators, during the first day of a statewide inspection. The action caused concern among thousands of non-native drivers and sparked spontaneous protests.

Transport minister Pratap Sarnaik had earlier said that drivers who failed the Marathi test would be given one month to gain a working knowledge of the language. Their badges would be suspended for three months if they failed to do so within that period, he had said.

With PTI inputs