Trade licences of businesses that don’t implement Kannada signboard rule not to be renewed

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will not renew or grant trade licences to commercial establishments that fail to comply with the 60:40 rule for the use of Kannada on their signboards. This announcement follows directions from the Karnataka Development Authority (KDA) over the issue. 

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will not renew or grant trade licences to commercial establishments that fail to comply with the 60:40 rule for the use of Kannada on their signboards. This announcement follows directions from the Karnataka Development Authority (KDA) over the issue. 

KDA Chairman Purushottama Bilimale, who chaired a review of the implementation of rules and laws pertaining to the use of Kannada on Friday, said that the full implementation of the 60:40 signboard rule is at the top of the priority list of the KDA. “The trade licenses of commercial establishments will come up for renewal in February. The owners have to then furnish photos of the signboards following the 60:40 rule, along with their applications. Only if the signboards follow the rule will the trade licence be renewed. In the last year, several new shops may have come up, and those shops should also be given trade licences only if they follow this rule,” he said. 

The State government mandated the use of Kannada and other languages in a 60:40 ratio on all signboards across Karnataka through an ordinance in February 2024. The civic body had then taken up a survey of all the shops and reported 98% implementation. Meanwhile, traders have also approached the court, and the case is still pending, prompting the KDA and BBMP to take the trade licence route, sources said. 

Chief Civic Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said that while there are over 50,000 trade licences issued by the civic body, the number of unauthorised shops is estimated to be over 2 lakh. “Our survey in March-April 2024 covered all shops, and the implementation was almost full,” he said. 

Meanwhile, even as the civic body has been trying to bring these commercial establishments into the tax net, using the Bescom database, these establishments that will be added to the tax net should be given a trade licence only after checking their signboards, it has now been decided, sources said. 

Prof. Bilimale said the KDA had directed the BBMP to form Kannada Implementation Committees (KIC) across eight zones to oversee implementation laws pertaining to Kannada. He said there are more than 2,000 rules in connection to implementing the Kannada language in various spheres. 

He further said that the KDA has also prepared a guide to teach Kannada in 36 hours to non-Kannada speakers, and the BBMP must utilise this book to teach the language to non-Kannada speaking workers in the civic body. The committee should monitor the same, he added.