Assam Shops and Establishments Act, 1948
No: 13 Dated: Jun, 30 1948
THE ASSAM SHOPS AND ESTABLISHMENTS ACT, 1948
ASSAM ACT XIII OF 1948
An Act To provide for and regulate the holidays, payment of wages and leave of persons employed in shops, commercial establishments and establililhments for public entertainment or amusement, and the hours of work of persons so employed
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for and regulate the holidays, payment of wages and leave of persons employed in shops, commercial establishments and establishments for public entertainment or amusement, and the hours of work of persons so employed;
It is hereby enacted as follows:-
1. Short title, commercement and application:- (1) This Act may be called the Assam Shops and Establishments Act, 1948.
(2) It shall come into foree on such date as the State Govenment may, by notification, appoint.
(3) It shall apply in the first instance to the Municipalities of Dhubri, Gauhati, Tezpur, Nowgong, Jorh.at, Dibrugarh and Silchar as declared or constituted under the provisions of the Assam Municipal Act, 1923, and to the area for the time being comprised within the Cantonment and municipality of Shillong but excluding so much of its area as from part of the united Khasi and Jaintia Hills District and thereafter it shall apply to such other areas, or to such shops, commercial establishments or establishments for public entertainment or amusement in such other areas as the State Government may, by notification, specify.
2. Definitions:- In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context-
(1) "Child" means a person who has not completed his twelth year of age ;
(2) "Closed" means not open for the service of any customer ;
(3) "commercial establishment" means an establishment in which there is conducted the business of advertising, commission, forwarding or commercial agency, a department of a factory in which persons are employed in a clerical capacity in any room or place where no manufacturing process is being carried on, a clerical department of any industrial or commercial undertaking, including one of public transport, an insurance company, joint stock company, broker's office, or exchange, or such other establishment or class thereof as the State Government may, by notification, declare to be a commercial eslablbhtnent for the purposes of this Act, but does not include a shop or an establishment for public entertainment or amusement ;
(4) ''day" means a period of twenty four hours beginning at midnight ;
(5) "employer" means a person owning or having charge of the business of a commercial establishment or establishment for public entertainment or amusement, and includes an agent or manager of, and any other pernn acting on on behalf of, such person in the general management or control 0f such establishment;
(6) "establishilent for public entertainment or amusement" means a restaurant, eating-house, cafe, cinema, theatre and such other est ,blishment or class thereof as the State Government may, by notification, declare to be, for the purposes of this Act, an establishment for public entertainment or amusement, but does not include a shop or a commercial establishment;
(7) "factory" means a fac tory as defined in or declared to be a factory under, the Factories Act 1934;
8) "Half day" means a period of six consecutive hours between the hours of half past seven o'clock ante meridiem and seven o'clock post meridiem ;
(9) ''notification" means a notification published in the official Gazette ;
(l0) "person employed" means-
(i) in the case of a shop, a person wholly or principally employed in the shop in connection with the business of the shop,
(ii) in the case of a commercial establishment, a person wholly or principa!ly employed in connection with the busineas of the establi5hment, or in the case of a factory, a person employed in a clerical capacity in any room or place where no manufacturing process is being carried on,
(iii) in the case of an establishment for public entertainment or amusement, a person wholly or principally employed in the preparation or serving of food, or drink, or in attendance upon customers, or in cleaning any part of the estaltlishment, or the utensils used therein, or as attendant, cashier, clerk, doorkeeper, operator or usher, or in some other similar capacity,
but does not include a shop-keeper or employer or the husband, wife, child, father, motr1er brother or sister of a shopkeeper or employer who lives with, and is dependent on, such shop-keeper or employer ;
(11) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules;
(12) "rules" means rules made under this Act ;
(13) "shop" means any premises used wholly or in part for the wholesale or retail sale of commodities or articles, either for cash or on credit, and such other premises as the State Government may, by notification, declare to be a shop for the purposes of this Act, but does not include a commercial establishment or an establishment for public entertainment or amusement ;
(14) "shop-keeper" means a person owning or having charge of the business of a shop, and includes an agent or manager of, and any other person acting on behalf of, such person in the general management or control of a shop ;
(15) "week" means a period of seven days beginning at midnight on Saturday ; and
(16) "year" means the period beginning on January the first, and ending on December 31st.