{"id":34644,"date":"2026-08-25T14:47:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/bombay-high-court-drivers-challenge-marathi-language-rule\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T14:47:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:17:03","slug":"bombay-high-court-drivers-challenge-marathi-language-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/bombay-high-court-drivers-challenge-marathi-language-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Bombay High Court: Drivers Challenge Marathi Language Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Four app-based cab drivers have approached the Bombay High Court challenging the Maharashtra government\u2019s decision to make working knowledge of Marathi compulsory for auto-rickshaw, taxi and app-based cab drivers.<\/p>\n

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The petition, filed through advocate Vivek Shukla, is expected to be mentioned before the Chief Justice on August 26, seeking urgent directions.<\/p>\n

The Maharashtra government introduced the requirement through a notification issued on August 12.<\/p>\n

The drivers have argued that the rule violates their fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.<\/p>\n

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Drivers challenge government\u2019s power to impose language requirement<\/strong><\/p>\n

The petition contends that the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, does not prescribe any language requirement for obtaining a driving licence or operating a commercial vehicle.<\/p>\n

According to the plea, the Act also does not empower the state government to make knowledge of a particular language a condition for obtaining or retaining a driver\u2019s badge or permit.<\/p>\n

The petitioners have argued that the notification effectively creates a new disqualification and a new ground for suspension or cancellation of permits that was not provided for by Parliament.<\/p>\n

Plea seeks stay on Marathi requirement<\/strong><\/p>\n

The drivers have sought an immediate stay on the government notification, arguing that its implementation could affect the livelihoods of thousands of drivers, particularly poor and migrant workers.<\/p>\n

The plea claims that around 9.65 lakh auto-rickshaw and taxi permits and badges have been issued across Maharashtra.<\/p>\n

It further states that around 1.65 lakh non-Marathi-speaking drivers participated in a 105-day Marathi language campaign conducted through the Konkan Marathi Sahitya Parishad and Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh.<\/p>\n

According to the petitioners, many more drivers remain at risk of receiving notices and facing suspension or cancellation of their badges and permits if they fail to meet the new requirement.<\/p>\n

The petitioners have therefore urged the Bombay High Court to intervene before the rule causes widespread hardship to drivers dependent on app-based and traditional taxi services for their livelihoods.<\/p>\n

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Four app-based cab drivers have approached the Bombay High Court challenging the Maharashtra government\u2019s decision to make working knowledge of Marathi compulsory for auto-rickshaw, taxi and app-based cab drivers. The petition, filed through advocate Vivek Shukla, is expected to be mentioned before the Chief Justice on August 26, seeking urgent directions. The Maharashtra government introduced…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24946,31099,31096,31100,31101,31097,31098,29870],"class_list":["post-34644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-bombay-high-court","tag-cab-drivers","tag-drivers-protest","tag-language-mandate","tag-legal-challenge","tag-livelihood-threat","tag-maharashtra-transport","tag-marathi-language-rule"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}