Amid a crackdown on non-Marathi-speaking auto and taxi drivers in Maharashtra, four app-based cab drivers from Mumbai on Tuesday approached the Bombay High Court (HC), challenging the state government notification that made working knowledge of Marathi compulsory.

The PIL by four cab drivers working for Uber, through advocate Vivek Shukla, claimed the notification violated their fundamental rights under Articles 14 (right to equality), 19 (freedom to carry on trade and profession) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution and did not align with the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988, a Central Act.

Shukla said once the petition is granted registration or lodging number from the HC, he will mention it before the appropriate bench in due course, seeking urgent relief.

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The petitioners claimed the MV Act does not seek any language requirement for a badge or a permit, or provide power to suspend or revoke a badge on that basis; therefore, the impugned notification was illegal and arbitrary.

“The impugned Notification manufactures a new disqualification which the Parliament never enacted,” the plea states.

It sought a direction from the court to quash the “illegal and unconstitutional” August 12 notification and the subsequent August 19 circular for its implementation and pending final disposal, and sought a stay on its implementation and enforcement.

The notification referred to amendments to Rules 4 (4), 24, 78 and 85 of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Rules, 2026, making working knowledge of Marathi as a prerequisite for obtaining several authorisations.

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The plea also said the verification of domicile certificates and police inquiries into whether drivers actually resided in Maharashtra for fifteen years was targeted at “migrant workers” and violated their fundamental rights.

“Citizens of India who move to Maharashtra to earn their bread are being treated as outsiders in their own country,” the plea claimed.

It added that the impugned notification, with “enormous scale,” would deprive “lakhs of poor drivers of their means of livelihood and nearly 9.6 lakh permit and badge holders face notices, suspension or revocation of badges so far.”

The PIL added that while 1.65 lakh non-Marathi-speaking drivers attended a training programme/language campaign, lakhs of drivers “remain exposed to notices, suspension and cancellation.”

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It stated, “For a daily earner, even a single day without the badge means hunger for his family. The injury is immediate, continuing and irreparable, and it falls on the poorest section of society.”