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Days after the Maharashtra Government commenced 'strict' implementation of its decision making 'working knowledge of Marathi language' compulsory for all autorickshaw, taxi and app-based cab drivers, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the very decision arguing that 'citizens of India' who come to Maharashtra for earning their bread are being treated as 'outsiders.'

The PIL has been filed by four Uber cab drivers, who seek quashing of the August 12 notification of the Home (Transport) Department of the State, making 'working knowledge of Marathi language' compulsory. The PIL is likely to be mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge on Wednesday. 

The PIL alleges that the State has been discriminating among its citizens and is also violating the right to move freely, right to settle, right to life and also their right to equality.

"Citizens of India who move to Maharashtra to earn their bread are being treated as outsiders in their own country. This directly violates Articles 19(1)(d), 19(1)(e) and the constitutional scheme of one citizenship. The instant Public Interest Litigation is filed in the larger public interest of lakhs of poor auto rickshaw drivers, taxi drivers and app-based drivers who earn their livelihood in the State. The Petitioners respectfully clarify that they hold the Marathi language in the highest respect. Many of the Petitioners speak and understand functional Marathi in their daily work. The Petitioners do not oppose the promotion of Marathi. The Petitioners only submit that the love of a language cannot be enforced by snatching away the licence and the livelihood of the poorest workers, and that the Constitution and the Motor Vehicles Act do not permit it," the PIL reads. 

Notably, by August 12 notification, the Home (Transport) Department had amended the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, making 'working knowledge of Marathi language' compulsory as a condition for autorickshaw drivers, taxi drivers and app-based drivers. It also provided that if on being examined, a driver fails to satisfy the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) officer, his licence would be initially suspended for three months and subsequently, on a permanent basis. This very condition would also be used for granting new permits or renewing the existing permits. 

The plea relies on March 1, 2017 order passed by a division bench of the Bombay High Court, by which a November 2016 circular making Marathi a compulsory language for grant of autorickshaw permits was quashed and set aside. 

The PIL highlights that the Transport Commissioner and also the Transport Minister have given instructions for strict implementation of the August 12 notification, asking the dedicated 'Vayuyega' flying squads to check autorickshaw stands, drivers, issue one month notices, suspend badges for three months etc.

It also relied on a local newspaper's report, which indicated that on the very first day of the implementation of this decision, a total of 522 rickshaw drivers were checked and notices were issued to 61 of them warning of licence suspension, in Vasai-Virar area near Mumbai, where most of the UP-Bihar migrants reside.

"A driver who does not satisfy the RTO officer about his Marathi loses his badge for three months and thereafter loses it permanently. He thereby loses his very livelihood. The Petitioners face imminent checking, notices, suspension and cancellation of their badges, licences and permits every day. The Petitioners are poor persons. Driving is their only profession and their only source of income. They work hard every day, from morning till night, to maintain their families and to make both ends meet. Several o ft h e Petitioners are migrants from the State ofUttar Pradesh who have come to Mumbai only to earn an honest living. If their badges are suspended or cancelled, they and their families will starve. The Petitioners file this PIL not only for themselves but in the interest of the entire community of about 9,65,000 rickshaw and taxi permit and badge holders in the State of Maharashtra, a very large number of whom are similarly placed poor drivers," the PIL reads.

Case Title: Mohd Kasim Ahmad vs State of Maharashtra 

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