Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961 Chapter 1 - Bare Act

State	Karnataka Government
Year	1961
Section Title	Preliminary

Act Info:

(1) This Act may be calledthe ¹ [Karnataka] Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961.

(2) It extends to the whole of the ¹ [State of Karnataka].

(3) It shall come into force on such ² [date] as the State Government may by notification appoint.

(4) (a) It shall apply, in the first instance, to the areas specified in the Schedule to this Act, and to such other areas in which any of the Acts repealed by section 42 applied.

(b) It shall apply to any other area with effect from such date as the State Government may by notification specify which date shall not be earlier than the expiry of three months from the date of publication of such notification in the official Gazette.

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1. Adopted by the Karnataka adaptations of laws order 1973 w.e.f. 1.11.1973.

2. Act came into force w.e.f. 1.10.1964.

Section 2 - Definitions

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) "adult" means a person who has completed his eighteenth year;

(b) "apprentice" means a person aged not less than¹[fourteen years], who is employed whether on payment of wages or not for the purpose of being trained in any trade, craft or employment in any establishment;

²[(ba) 'banking company' means,-

(i) the Reserve Bank of India;

(ii) the Banking Company as defined under the Banking Regulations, Act, 1949;

(iii) the State Bank of India constituted under the State Bank of India Act, 1955;

(iv) a Subsidiary Bank as defined in the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959;

(v) a corresponding new bank constituted under the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970;

(vi) a corresponding new bank constituted under the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980.]³

(d) "closed" means not open for the service of any customer or for any business connected with the establishment;

(e) "commercial establishment" means a commercial or trading or banking or insurance establishment, an establishment or administrative service in which persons employed are mainly engaged in office work, a hotel, restaurant, boarding or eating house, a cafe or any other refreshment house, a theatre or any other place of public amusement or entertainment and includes such establishments as the State Government may by notification declare to be a commercial establishment for the purposes of this Act;

(f) "day" means a period of twenty-four hours beginning at midnight:

Provided that in the case of an employee whose hours of work extend beyond midnight, "day" means a period of twenty-four hours beginning from the time when such employment commences irrespective of midnight;

(g) "employee" means a person wholly or principally employed in or in connection with, any establishment whether working on permanent, periodical, contract or piece-rate wages, or on commission basis, even though he receives no reward for his labour and includes an apprentice, any clerical or other member of the staff of a factory or industrial establishment who falls outside the scope of the Factories Act, 1948, but does not include a member of the employer's family; and "employed" shall be construed accordingly;

(h) "employer" means a person having charge of or owning or having ultimate control over the affairs of an establishment and includes members of the family of an employer, a manager, agent or other person acting in the general management or control of an establishment;

(i) "establishment" means a shop or a commercial establishment;.8

(j) "family" in relation to an employer means the husband or wife, son, daughter, father, mother, brother or sister of such employer who lives with and is dependent on him;

(k) "Inspector" means an Inspector appointed under section 26 and includes the Chief Inspector and an Assistant Inspector;

(l) "leave" means leave provided for in Chapter IV of this Act;

(m) "night" means a period of at least twelve consecutive hours which shall include the interval between 8 P.M. and 6 A.M.;

(n) "notification" means a notification published in the official Gazette;

(o) "opened" means opened for the service of any customer or for any business, connected with the establishment;

(p) "period of work" means the time during which an employee is at the disposal of the employer;

(q) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(r)⁴[x x x]

(s) "register of establishments" means a register maintained for the registration of establishments under this Act;

(t) "registration certificate" means a certificate showing the registration of an establishment;

(u) "shop" means any premises where any trade or business is carried on or where services are rendered to customers, and includes offices, storerooms, godowns, or warehouses, whether in the same premises or otherwise, used in connection with such trade or business, but does not include a commercial establishment or a shop attached to a factory where the persons employed in the shop fall within the scope of the Factories Act, 1948;

(v) "spread over" means the period between the commencement and the termination of the work of an employee on any day;

(w) "wages" shall have the meaning assigned to it in the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (Central Act IV of 1936);

(x) "week" means a period of seven days beginning at midnight of Saturday or such other night as may be approved in writing for a particular area by the prescribed authority;

(y) "year" means the year commencing on the first day of January;

(z) "young person" means a person who is not a child and who has not completed his eighteenth year.

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1. Substituted by Act 25 of 1997 w.e.f. 12.2.1998.

2. Sub clause (i) to (vi) inserted by act 33 of 1982 w.e.f. 4.12.1982.

3. Substituted by Act 25 of 1997 w.e.f. 12.2.1998.

4. Omitted by Act 36 of 1966 w.e.f. 25.4.1969.

Section 3 - Exemptions

(1) Nothing in this Act shall apply to,-

(a) offices of or under the Central or State Governments or local authorities, except commercial undertakings;

(b) any railway service, water transport 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;

(d) establishments for the treatment or care of the sick, infirm, or the mentally unfit;

¹ [(dd) establishments of the Food Corporation of India;]

(e) offices of legal practitioners and medical practitioners in which not more than three persons are employed;

(f) offices of ² [a banking company];

(g) any person employed about the business of any establishment mentioned in clauses (a) to (f) aforesaid;

(h) persons occupying positions of management in any establishment;

(i) persons whose work is inherently intermittent such as drivers, care-takers, watch and ward staff, or canvassers; and

(j) persons directly engaged in preparatory or complementary work, such as, clearing and forwarding clerks responsible for the despatch of goods.

(2) Nothing contained in section 11 or sub-section (1) of section 12 shall apply to,-

(a) shops dealing mainly in medicines or medical or surgical requisites or appliances;

(b) clubs, residential hotels, boarding houses, hostels attached to schools or colleges, and establishments maintained in boarding schools in connection with the boarding and lodging of pupils and resident-masters;

Explanation.-"residential hotel" means any premises in which business is carried on bona fide for the supply of dwelling accommodation and meals on payment of a sum of money to a traveller or any member of the public or class of the public.

(d) shops of barbers and hairdressers;

(e) shops dealing mainly in meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy produce (except ghee), bread, confectionery, sweets, chocolates, ice, ice cream, cooked food, fruits, flowers, vegetables or green fodder;

(f) shops dealing in articles required for funerals, burials or cremations;.10

(g) shops dealing in pan (betel leaf), pan with beedies or cigarettes, or liquid refreshments sold retail for consumption on the premises;

(h) shops dealing in newspapers or periodicals, editing sections of newspaper offices and offices of news agencies;

(i) cinemas, theatres and other places of public entertainment and stalls and refreshment rooms attached to such cinemas, theatres and places of public entertainment;

(j) establishments for the retail sale of petrol;

(k) shops in regimental institutes, garrison shops and troop canteens in cantonments;

(l) tanneries;

(m) retail trade carried on at an exhibition or show, if such retail trade is subsidiary or ancillary only to the main purpose of the exhibition or show;

(n) oil-mills and flour-mills not registered under the Factories Act, 1948;

(o) brick and lime kilns;

(p) commercial establishments engaged in the manufacture of bronze and brass utensils so far as it is confined to the process of melting in furnaces.

³ [(q) Information Technology Establishments;

(r) Information Technology enabling services or establishments;

(s) Bio-Technology and Research Centres or establishments of epidemic and other diseases.]

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), the State Government may by notification declare that any establishment or person specified therein shall not be exempt from the operation of such provisions of this Act as may be specified in the notification and that the provisions of this Act specified in such notification shall apply to such establishment or person.

(4) The State Government may by notification exempt establishments where the nature of work is,-

(i) intermittent, or

(ii) seasonal, or

(iii) for a short duration, not exceeding two months, and it is difficult to enforce the provisions of this Act, -from all or any of the provisions of this Act subject to such conditions as may be specified in the notification.

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1. Inserted by Act 17 of 1986 w.e.f. 8.5.1986.

2. Substituted by Act 33 of 1982 w.e.f. 4.12.1982.

3. Inserted by Act 11 of 2001 w.e.f. 1.6.2001.