CHAPTER III Shops

7. Opening and closing hours of shops :- (1) No shop shall on any day be opened earlier or closed later than such hour as may, after previous publication, be fixed by the Government by a general or special order in that behalf:

Provided that, any customer who was being served or was waiting to be served in any shop at the hour fixed for its closing may be served during the quarter of an hour immediately following such hour.

(2) The Government may, for the purposes of this section, fix different hours for different classes of shops or for different areas or for different time of the year.


8. Selling outside prohibited before opening and after closing hours of shops :- No person shall carry on, in or adjacent to, a street or public place, the sale of any goods, before the opening and after the closing hours fixed under Section 7 for the shops dealing in any kind of goods in the locality in which such street or public place is situated:

Provided that, nothing in this section shall apply to the sale of

(i) Newspapers;

(ii) Flowers;

(iii) pan


(iv) vegetables and fruits; and

(v) such other goods as the Government may, by notification, specify from time to time.


9. Daily and weekly hours of work in shops :- (1) Subject to other provisions of this Act, no employee in any shop shall be required or allowed to work therein for more than eight hours in any day and forty eight hours in any week.

(2) Any employee may be required or allowed to work in a shop for any period in excess of the limit fixed under sub section (1), on payment of overtime wages, subject to a maximum period of six hours in a week.

(3) For the purpose of stock taking and preparation of accounts, an employer may, with the previous intimation to the Inspector, require or allow any employee to work in a shop for not more than any six days in a year in excess of the period fixed in sub section (1), on payment of overtime wages; so however, that the excess period shall not in aggregate exceed twenty four hours.


10. Interval for rest :- No employee in any shop shall be required or allowed to work therein for more than five hours in any day unless he has had an interval for rest of at least one hour:

Provided that, an employee who was serving a customer at the commencement of the interval may be required to serve him during the quarter of an hour immediately following such commencement.


11. Spread over periods of work :- The periods of work of an employee in a shop shall be so arranged that along with his intervals for rest, they shall not spread over for more than twelve hours in any day:

Provided that, where an employee works on any day for the purpose of stock taking and preparation of accounts, the spread over shall not exceed fourteen hours in any such day on payment of overtime wages.


12. Closing of shops and grant of holidays :- (1) Every shop, whether with or without employees, shall remain closed on every Sunday which shall be a holiday for every employee in the shop:


Provided that the Chief Inspector may, by notification, specify in respect of any shop or class of shops or in respect of shops or class of shops in any area any day in the week instead of Sunday on which day such shop or class of shops shall remain closed.

(2) (a) The Chief Inspector may, by notification, require in respect of any specified class of shops that they shall in addition to the weekly holiday mentioned in sub section (1), be closed for one half day in a week, as may be fixed by the Government;

(b) Every employee in any shop to which a notification under Clause (a) applies, shall be allowed in each week an additional holiday of one half day fixed for the closing of the shop under Clause (a).

(3) The Chief Inspector may, for the purposes of sub section (2), fix different hours for different classes of shops or for different areas or for different times of the year.

(4) The weekly day on which a shop is closed in pursuance of a requirement under sub section (2) shall be specified by the employer in a notice prominently exhibited in a conspicuous place in the shop.

(5) It shall not be lawful for the employer to call an employee at or for the employee to go to his shop or any place for any work in connection with the business of his shop on any day or part of the day on which it has remained closed.

(6) No deduction shall be made from the wages of any employee in a shop on account of any day or part of a day on which it has remained closed; and if such employee is employed on the basis that he would not ordinarily receive wages for such day or part of a day he shall nonetheless be paid for such day or part of a day the wages he would have drawn had the shop not remained closed, or had the holiday not been allowed, on that day or part of a day.

13. Closing of shops in public interest during special occasions :- I n addition to the holidays mentioned in Section 12, the Chief Inspector may, by notification, and with the previous approval of the Government, require in respect of any specified class of shops that they shall be closed on any specified day or days in the public interest.




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