Sikkim Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1983
(Act No. 6 of 1983)
To provide for the regulation of conditions of work and employment in shops, commercial establishments, residential hotels, restaurants, eating houses, theatres, other places of public amusement or entertainment and other establishments and for the matter connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of Sikkim in the fourth year of the Republic of India as follows:
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. (1) This Act may be called The Sikkim Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1983.
(2) It extends to the whole of Sikkim.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act and for different areas or different classes of establishments.
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,
(1) "apprentice" means a person aged not less than fourteen years who is employed, whether on payment of wages or not, for the purpose of being trained in any trade, business or employment in any establishment;
(2) "Chief Inspector "means the Chief Inspector appointed under section 68 (2);
(3) "child" means a person who has not completed his fourteenth year;
(4) "closed" means not open for the services of any customer or for any other purpose, whatsoever, relating to business;
(5) "commercial establishment" means an establishment which carries on any business, trade, profession or any work in connection with, incidental or ancillary to, any business, trade or profession and includes
(a) a society registered or deemed to have been registered under the Sikkim Co-operative Societies Act, 1978, and a charitable or other trust, whether registered or not, any business, trade, profession or work in connection with or incidental or ancillary to such business, trade or profession;
(b) an establishment which carries on the business of advertising, commission agency, forwarding or commercial agency or which is a clerical department of a factory or of any industrial or commercial undertaking;
(c) an insurance company, joint stock company, bank, broker's office and exchange; but does not include a factory, shop, residential hotel, restaurant, eating house, theatre or other place of public amusement or entertainment
(6) "day" means the 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 the period of twenty- four hours beginning when such employment commences irrespective of midnight;
(7) "employer" means a person owning or having ultimate control over the affairs of an, establishment and includes the manager, agent or any other person acting in the general management or control of such establishment;
(8) "establishment" means a shop, commercial establishment, residential hotel, restaurant, eating house, theatre or other place of public amusement or entertainment and includes such other establishment as the State Government may, by notification, declare to be an establishment for the purposes of this Act;
(9) "factory" means any premises which is a factory within the meaning of the Factories Act, 1948 or which is deemed to be a factory under section 85 of the said Act;
(10) "goods" includes all materials, commodities and articles;
(11) "holiday" means a day on which an establishment shall remain closed or on which an employee shall be given holiday under the provisions of this Act;
(12) "Inspector" means an Inspector appointed under this Act;
(13) "leave" means leave as provided for in Chapter VIII of this Act;
(14) "local area" means any area or combination of areas to which this Act applies;
(15) "local authority" means the Gangtok Municipal Corporation constituted under the Gangtok Municipal Corporation Act, 1975, and includes any other body which the State Government may, by notification, declare to. be local authority for the purposes of this Act;
(16) "manager" means a person declared to be a manager under section 6;
(17) "member of the family of an employer" means the husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister of an employer who lives with and is dependent' on such employer;
(18) "notification:' means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(19) "opened" means opened for the services of any customer for any business of the establishment, for work, by or with the help of any employee of or connected with the establishment;
(20) "period of work" means the time during which an employee is at the disposal of the employer;
(21) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(22) "prescribed authority" means the authority prescribed under the rules made under this Act;
(23) "register of establishment" means a register maintained for the registration of an establishment;
(24) "registration certificate" means a certificate' showing the registration of an establishment;
(25) "residential hotel" means any premises in which a bonafide business is carried on of supplying for payment lodging or board and lodging to travelers and other members of the public -on payment and includes a residential club;
(26) "restaurant and eating house" means any premises in which is carried on wholly or principally the business of the supply of meals or refreshments to the public or a class of the public for consumption on the premises;
(27) "shop" means' any premises where goods are sold, either by retail or wholesale or where services are rendered to customers, and includes an office, a store room, godown, warehouse or work place whether in the same premises or otherwise used in connection with such trade or business but does not include a factory, a commercial establishment, residential hotel, restaurant, eating house, theatre or other place of public amusement or entertainment;
(28) "spread over" means the period between the commencement and the termination of the work of an employee on any day;
(29) "theatre" includes any premises intended principally or wholly for the exhibition of pictures or other optical effects by means of cinematograph or other suitable apparatus or for dramatic performances or for any other public amusement or entertainment;
(30) "wages" means wages as defined in the Payment of Wages Act, 1936;
(31) "week" means the period of seven days beginning at midnight of Saturday;
(32) "year" means a year commencing on the first day of January;
(33) "young person" means a person who is not a child and has not completed his seventeenth year.
*References to the time of day in this Act are references to the Indian Standard Time.
4. (1) Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to
(a) a person whose work is inherently intermittent such as a traveler, canvasser, watchman or a caretaker;
(b) offices of the Central or State Government or of local authorities, of the State Bank of India, the State Bank: of Sikkim and the Life Insurance Corporation;
(c) establishment for treatment or care of the sick, infirm, destitute or mentally unfit persons;
(d) bazaars, fairs or exhibitions for the sale of works for charitable or other purposes from which no profit is derived;
(e) stalls and refreshment rooms at railway stations or railway dining cars;
(f) clubs not being residential clubs;
(g) any commercial establishment carrying on the business of transport of passengers and goods by motor vehicles and persons exclusively employed in relation to such business;
(h) offices of lawyers; and
(i) any other class of establishments or class of persons which the State Government may, by notification, exemption from the operation of this Act.
5. The State Government may, if satisfied that the public interest so requires or that the circumstances of any establishment are such that it would be just and proper so to do. by notification, exempt either permanently or for any specified period, any establishment or class of establishments or person or class of persons to which or to whom this Act applies, from all or any of its provisions, subject to such restrictions and conditions as the State Government may specify in the notification.
CHAPTER II
Registration of Establishments
6. (1) Every establishment to which this Act applies shall be registered in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(2) Within thirty days from the date on which the Act applies to an establishment, the employer shall send to the Chief Inspector, a statement in a prescribed form, together with such fees as may be prescribed containing:
(a) the name of the employer and the manager, if any;
(b) postal address of the establishment;
(c) the name, if any, of the establishment;
(d) the category of the establishment, i.e. whether it is a shop, commercial establishment, residential hotel, restaurant, eating house, theatre or place of public amusement or entertainment; and
(e) such other particulars as may be prescribed.
(3) On the receipt of the statement and the fees, the Chief Inspector on being satisfied about the correctness of the statements made therein, shall register an establishment in the register of establishments and shall issue in the prescribed form, a registration certificate to the employer. The registration certificate shall be displayed at a conspicuous place in the establishment.
(4) Registration certificate granted under sub-section (2), shall be valid upto the end of the year for which it is granted. An application for the renewal of a registration certificate shall be submitted not less than fifteen...
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