Clinic board in the local language: what the rules say Clinical establishment standards, the rate list in two languages, Karnataka's 60% Kannada rule and Maharashtra's Marathi boards.

A clinic's name board should carry the clinic's name in the local language, and the notices inside (doctors with registration numbers, fees, timings, services and the rate list) should be in the language patients in the area understand, with English alongside the rate list. That is the position under the central clinical establishment standards and rules. Some states go further through their language or shop laws: Karnataka's 2024 amendment Bill sets 60% of the name board for Kannada, and Maharashtra has a Marathi name-board rule in its shops law. Neither the 2002 conduct regulations nor the NMC's 2026 advertising guidelines say anything about language; they govern what the board says.

What do the clinical establishment rules say about language?

Where the central Clinical Establishments Act, 2010 applies, three documents touch the language of a clinic's boards.

Para 3.4 of the standard reads: "The clinic shall have a prominent board/signage displaying the name of the clinic in local language at the gate or on the building of the clinic." Para 3.5 asks that the other signage "be well displayed in the language understood by the local public in the area". The standard does not set a percentage, a font size or an order of languages. A board with the name in the local language and in English meets it.

States with their own clinical establishment laws, such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, have their own display rules. Our post on signboard and fee display rules covers Karnataka's KPME fee display rule and sample boards.

Does a clinic board in Karnataka need 60% Kannada?

The Kannada Language Comprehensive Development (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (LA Bill No. 1 of 2024) substitutes sub-section (6) of section 17 of the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Act, 2022 (Karnataka Act 13 of 2023). The substituted text reads:

The name boards of Commercial, Industrial and Business Undertakings, Trusts, Counseling Centre's, Hospitals, Laboratories, Amusement Centers and Hotels etc., functioning with the approval and sanction of the Government or Local Authorities, shall ensure that their name board displays 60% in Kannada language and Kannada shall be displayed in the upper half of the name board.

A clinic registered under the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act is functioning with the State's approval, and "Hospitals" and "Laboratories" are named, so a clinic should plan its board on that basis. In practice that means the Kannada name on the top half of the board, taking 60% of it, and English below. The Bill says the Act comes into force on a date the State Government notifies. We read the Bill text; before you order a board, check with the local body or the Kannada Development Authority that the section is in force in the same words.

Must a clinic board in Maharashtra be in Marathi?

Maharashtra puts the name-board rule in its Shops and Establishments law, the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017, as amended in 2022. Published summaries of the amendment describe a requirement that the name board be in Marathi in Devanagari script, with other languages allowed alongside. We could not load the official text of the section from India Code while writing this, so we do not quote its terms here. Ask your municipal ward office for the current wording before you order the board, and see our post on Shops and Establishments registration for clinics for whether the Act covers your clinic.

What about other states?

Several other states have language or shop-board rules of their own, and municipal bodies sometimes add conditions when they license boards. We have not read them for this post. Until you check locally, a board with the clinic's name in the state's official language and in English, and inside notices in both, meets the central standard and is the arrangement most likely to satisfy a local rule.

Does the language change what the board may say?

No. Whatever the language, regulation 7.13 of the 2002 conduct regulations limits a doctor's board to the doctor's name, qualifications from a university or statutory body, titles, the name of the speciality, and the registration number with the name of the State Medical Council, and says the board should not be unusually large. Regulation 6.1.2 treats a self-photograph on the board as self-advertisement. Section 9.2 of the NMC's 6 Oct 2026 advertising guidelines applies the same rule. A translated "best" is still "best": section 8.1(ix) of the guidelines bars superiority claims in any wording.

How to lay out a two-language clinic board

1. Top half: the clinic's name in the state language, in the larger letters (in Karnataka, 60% of the board).
2. Below: the clinic's name in English.
3. Doctor block in both languages: name, recognised degrees, speciality, registration number, council name.
4. Timings and holidays, in both languages, on the board or a separate notice at the door.
5. Inside, near the desk: the fee list or rate list in the local language and English, with the grievance officer's name and phone.
6. Ask a native reader to check spellings of the degree and council names before the board is printed.