Section 1

Section 1 of the Assam Shops and Establishment Act, 2022. This Act may be called the Assam Shops and Establishments Act, 2022.

(1) This Act may be called the Assam Shops and Establishments Act, 2022.

(2) It extends to the whole of the state of Assam.

(3) It shall come into force at once. PRELIMINARY Definitions 2. In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,- (1) "Chief Facilitator" means the Chief Facilitator appointed as such under section 23 of the Act;

(2) "commercial establishment" means an establishment which carries business of advertising, commission or forwarding or commercial agency, a department or 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, brokers office or exchange, or such other establishment or class thereof as the Government may, by notification, declare to be a commercial establishment for the purposes of all or any of the provisions of this Act, but does not include a shop or an establishment for public entertainment or amusement;

(3) "day" means the period of twenty-four hours beginning at midnight;

(4) "employer" means an owner or a person who has ultimate control over the affairs of a shop or an establishment, and includes- (i) in the case of a firm or association of individuals, a partner or member of the firm or association;

(ii) in the case of a company, a director of the company;

(iii) in the case of an establishment owned or controlled by the Central Government or a State Government or any local authority, the person or persons appointed to manage the affairs of such shop or establishment by the Central Government or the State Government or the local authority, as the case may be;

(5) "establishment" means an establishment which carries on, any business, trade, manufacture or any journalistic or printing work, or business of banking, insurance, stocks and shares, brokerage or exchange or profession or any work in connection with, or incidental or ancillary to, any business, trade or profession or manufacture; and includes,- (i) establishment of any medical practitioner (including hospital, dispensary, clinic, polyclinic, maternity home and such others), architect, engineer, accountant, tax consultant or any other technical or professional consultant;

(ii) a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and a charitable or other trust, whether registered or not, which carries on, whether for purposes of gain or not, any business, trade or profession or work in connection with or incidental or ancillary thereto;

(iii) shop, residential hotel, restaurant, eating house, theatre or other place of public amusement or entertainment to whom the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948 do not apply;

(iv) such other establishment as the Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be an establishment for the purposes of this Act; Central Act No. XXI of 1860 Central Act No. 63 of 1948 (6) "establishment for public entertainment or amusement" means a restaurant, eating house, cafe, cinema, theatre and such other establishments or class thereof as the 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) "Facilitator" means a facilitator appointed under section 23 of the Act;

(8) "factory" means any premises and the precincts thereof which is a factory within the meaning of clause (m) of section 2 and section 85 of the Factories Act, 1948; Central Act No. 63 of 1948 (9) "Government" means the Government of Assam;

(10) "holiday" means a day on which a worker shall be given a weekly off under the provisions of this Act;

(11) "leave" means a leave mentioned under section 17 of this Act;

(12) "local authority" means,- indi um (i) the Municipal Corporation constituted under the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Act, 1969 or constituted or deemed to be constituted under the Assam Municipal Corporation Act, 2022; Assam Act No.1 of1973. Assam Act No.8 of 2022 (ii) a Municipality constituted under the Assam Municipal Act, 1956;

(iii) a Panchayat constituted under the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994; Assam Act No.15 of 1957 Assam Act No.18 of 1994 (13) "member of the family of an employer" means the wife, husband, son, daughter, father, mother, brother or sister of an employer who lives with and is dependent on such employer;

(14) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;

(15) "opened" means opened for theservice of any customer, or for any business of the establishment, or for work, by or with the help of any worker of or connected with the establishment;

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

(17) "prescribed authority" means the Commissioner of Labour for the purpose of this Act;

(18) "register of establishments" means a register maintained for the registration of shops and establishments under this Act, either manually or in electronic format;

(19) "registration certificate" means a certificate of registration of a shop or establishment;

(20) "shift" means where work of the same kind is carried out by two or more sets of workers working during different periods of the day, each of such sets is called a group or relay and each of such period is called a shift;

(21) "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, mainly used in connection with such trade or business, but does not include a factory;

(22) "spread-over" means period between the commencement and the termination of the work of a worker on any day;

(23) "wages" means all remuneration (whether by way of salary, allowances or otherwise) expressed in terms of money or capable of being so expressed which would, if the terms of employment, express or implied, were fulfilled, be payable to a person employed in respect of his employment or of work done in such employment, and includes,- (i) any remuneration payable under any award or settlement between the parties or under any order of a court or tribunal;

(ii) any remuneration to which the person employed is entitled in respect of overtime work or holidays or any leave period;

(iii) any additional remuneration payable under the terms of employment (whether called a bonus of by any other name);

(iv) any sum which, by reason of the termination of employment of the person employed, is payable under any law, contract or instrument which provides for the payment of such sum, whether with or without deductions;

(v) any sum to which the person employed is entitled under any scheme framed under any law, for the time being in force; and (vi) house rent allowance payable in cash, but does not include,- (a) any bonus, which does not form part of the remuneration payable under the terms of employment or which is not payable under any award or settlement between the parties or under any order of a court;

(b) the value of any accommodation, or of the supply of light, water, medical attendance or other amenity or of any service excluded from the computation of wages by a general or special order of the Government;

(c) any contribution paid by the employer to any pension or provident fund, and the interest which may have accrued thereon;

(d) any travelling allowance or the value of any travelling concession;

(e) any sum paid to the employed person to defray special expenses entailed to him by the nature of his employment; or (f) any gratuity payable on the termination of employment in cases other than those specified in sub-clause (iv) above;

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

(25) "worker" means any person including a person engaged through an outsourcing agency (except an apprentice under the Apprentices Act, 1961) employed to do any manual, unskilled, skilled, technical, operational or clerical work for hire or reward, whether the terms of employment be express or implied. Central Act 52 of 1961 Act not to apply to certain persons and premises

Section 1, The Assam Shops and Establishment Act, 2022 (Act 3 of 2025).