The Uttar Pradesh Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1962
The Uttar Pradesh Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1962 (the Uttar Pradesh Dookan Aur Vanijya Adhishthan Adhiniyam) and the Rules made under it in 1963 apply to shops and commercial establishments across Uttar Pradesh. They regulate wages, conditions of service, hours of work, rest intervals, overtime, opening and closing hours, closed days, holidays, leave, maternity benefit, working conditions and the employment of children.
Key Definitions
- Commercial establishment: premises, other than a factory or a shop, where trade, business, manufacture or any related work is carried on for profit. It includes journalistic and printing work, banking, insurance, stock and share broking, produce exchanges, theatres, cinemas and other places of public entertainment, and the clerical side of a factory to which the Factories Act, 1948 does not apply.
- Shop: premises where goods are sold wholesale or retail, or services are rendered to customers, including the offices, godowns and warehouses used for that trade, wherever they are.
Registration of Establishments
- The owner must register within three months of starting business, or within three months of the 1976 amending Act coming into force, whichever is later.
- The application (Form L), with the prescribed fee, goes to the Chief Inspector. Once the fee is verified, the establishment is entered in the register (Form K) and a registration certificate is issued.
- Changes are notified in Form N; a lost certificate is reported in Form O.
- Registration is done online through the UP Labour Department.
Establishments and Persons Not Covered
The Act does not apply to:
- People in confidential, managerial or supervisory positions, up to 10% of the workforce in an establishment with five or more employees.
- People whose work is inherently intermittent, such as travellers and canvassers.
- Offices of the Government or a local authority, and offices of the Reserve Bank of India.
- Establishments for the treatment or care of the sick, infirm, destitute or mentally unfit.
- Members of the employer's family.
Compliances
- Form A - Notice of Weekly Close Day or its Alteration
- Form B - Notice Specifying Close Day
- Form C - Notice of Weekly Holiday
- Form D - Register of Deductions from Wages
- Form E - Register of Fines and Realisations
- Form F - Notice of Absence
- Form G - Register of Attendance and Wages
- Form H - Register of Leave
- Form K - Register of Shops and Establishments
- Form L - Application for Registration and Statement of Facts
- Form N - Notice of Change
- Form O - Notice of Loss of Registration Certificate