The West Bengal Shops and Establishments Act 1963

Summary

The West Bengal Shops & Commercial Establishment Act, 1963 and Rules, 1964 are applicable to all the shops and commercial establishments in the areas notified by Government of West Bengal.

The Act is enacted for the purpose of protecting the rights of employees.

The Act provides regulations of the payment of wages, terms of services, work hours, rest intervals, overtime work, opening and closing hours, closed days, holidays, leaves, maternity leave and benefits, work conditions, rules for employment of children, records maintenance, etc.

Definitions

Commercial Establishment means an advertising, commission, forwarding or commercial agency, or a clerical department of a factory or of any industrial or commercial undertaking, an insurance company, joint stock company, bank, broker's office or exchange, and includes such other class or classes of concerns or undertakings as the State Government may, after taking into consideration the nature of their work, by notification, declare to be commercial establishments, for the purposes of this Act, but does not include a shop or an establishment for public entertainment or amusement;

Establishment for public entertainment or amusement" means a hotel, restaurant, eating-house, cafe, cinema, theatre and includes such other class or classes of concerns or undertakings as the State Government may, after taking into consideration the nature of their work, by notification, declare to be, for the purposes of this Act, establishments for public entertainment or amusement, but does not include a shop or a commercial establishment;

Shop means any premises used wholly or in part for th,a sale of services to customers or for the wholesale or retail sale of commodities or articles, either for cash or on credit, and includes any offices, store-rooms, godowns or warehouses, whether in the same premises or elsewhere, used in connection with such sale or with the storage of commodities or articles for the purpose of such sale and also includes such other class or classes of premises as the State Government may, after taking into consideration the nature of the work carried on there, by notification, declare to be shops for the purposes of this Act, but does not include an establishment. •

Registration

Every shop-keeper or employer shall—

• in the case of shops or- establishments in existence on the date on which this Act applies ithin such date as the State Government may, by notification, specify, and
• in the case of new shops or establishments, if this Act applies within such period as may be prescribed, apply for registration to the registering uthority, in such form together with such fee, as may be prescribed.

Every such application shall contain—

• the name of the shop-keeper or the employer;
• the postal address of the shop or the establishment;
• the name of the shop or the establishment ;
• declaration of weekly closing days in the case of a shop ;
• such other particulars as may be prescribed.

The registering authority on being satisfied about the correctness of the particulars, shall register the shop or the establishment in such manner as may b prescribed and shall issue a certificate of registration in the prescribed form to the shop-keeper or the empoyer.

The registering authority shall maintain a Register of Shops and Establishments in the prescribed form.

Every shop-keeper or employer shall display the certificate of registration in a conspicuous place in the shop or the establishment.

Every shop-keeper or employer shall inform the registering authority in the prescribed form of any change in respect of any particulars contained in the application within seven days after the change has taken place: Provided that the declaration of weekly closing days in the case of a shop shall not be changed more than once in any year. The registering authority, on receipt of such information and on payment of such fee,as may be prescribed, shall, if satisfied about the correctness of the iformation, make necessary changes in the Register of Shops and Establishments and shall amend the certificate of registration or issue a fresh certificate of registration, if necessary.

A shop-keeper or an employer shall, within fifteen days of the winding up of his business, inform the registering authority in writing. The registering authority, on being satisfied about the correctness of the information, shall remove the name of the shop nr the establishment from the Register of Shops and Establishments and cancel the certificate of registration.

A shop keeper or an employer shall apply to the registering pthority in such form together with such fee, not exceeding one rupee, as may be prescribed, for renewal of the certificate of registration within thirty days after the expiry of three years 'from the date of the issue or renewal, as the case may be, of the certificate of registration.

Exemptions

This Act shall not apply to—

• offices of or under the Central or State Government, the Reserve Bank of India, any railway administration or any local authority;
• any railway service, airways service, water transport service, tramway or motor service, postal, telegraph or telephone service, any system of public conservancy or sanitation or any industry, business or undertaking which supplies power, light or water to the public;
• institutions for the treatment or owe of the sick, infirm, destitute or mentally unfit;
• shops or stalls in any public fair or bazar held for a charitable purpose; or
• stalls and refreshment rooms at railway stations, docks, wharves or airports.

Compliances

References

• West Bengal Shops and Establishments Act,1963
• West Bengal Shops and Establishments Rules, 1964
• West Bengal Labour Department E-Services