(1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Shops short title, and Establishments Act, 1963. extent, commence-
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal. ment and
(3) It shall dome into force on such date as the State applica- Government may, by notification, appoint.
tion.
(4) It shall apply to the areas and to the classes of shops and establishments to which the Bengal Shops and Establishments Act, 1940 applied immediately before the commencement of this Act ; and shall also apply to such other areas or to such other classes of shops or establishments as the State ..Government may, by notification, specify in this behalf.
2. In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in Definitions.
the subject or context,—
(1) "closed" means not open for the service of any customer or for any other purpose whatsoever relating to business;
(2) "commercial establishment" means an advertising, commission, forwarding or commercial agency, or a clerical department of a factory or of any industrial or commercial undertaking, an insurance company, joint stock company, bank, broker's office or exchange, and includes such other class or classes of concerns or undertakings as the State Government may, after taking into consideration the nature of their work, by notification, declare to be commercial establishments, for the purposes of this Act, but does not include a shop or an establishment for public entertainment or amusement;
2 The West Bengal Shops and Establishments Act, 1963.
[West Ben. Act (Section 2,)
(3) "day" means a period of twenty-four hours beginning at midnight;
(4) "employer" means a person owning or having charge of an establishment and includes an agent or a manager of, and any other person acting on behalf of, such person in the general management or control of such establishment;
"establishment" means a commercial establishment or an establishment for public entertainment or amusement ;
"establishment for public entertainment or amusement" means a hotel, restaurant, eating-house, cafe, cinema, theatre and includes such other class or classes of concerns or undertakings as the State Government may, after taking into consideration the nature of their work, by notification, declare to be, for the purposes of this Act, establishments for public entertainment or amusement, but does not include a shop or a commercial establishment ;
(7) "half day" means a continuous period of five hours and a half,—
(i) in the case of a shop or an establishment for public entertainment or amusement, beginning at the commencement, or ending on the termination, of the ordinary daily working hours of such shop or establishment, as the case may be, and
(ii) in the case of a commercial establishment, between the hours of half past eight o'clock ante meridiem and half past eight o'clock post meridfiem,;
(8) "lock out" and "strike" have the same meaning as in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947;
(Y) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(10) "person employed" used in relation to a shop or an establishment means a person wholly or principally employed in. connection with the business of the shop or the establishment, but does not include an owner of the shop or the establishment or the husband, wife, child, father, mother, brother or sister of such an owner who lives with, and is dependent on, such owner;
(11) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act ;
(12) "registering authority" means the Chief Inspector of Shops and Establishments or any other person appointed in this behalf by the State Government as the registering authority for any area;
(5)
(6) 14 of 1947 The West Bengal Shops and Establishments Act, 1963. 3 XIII of 1963.]
4 of 1936.
_ (Sections 3, 4.)
(13) "shop" means any premises used wholly or in part for th,a sale of services to customers or for the wholesale or retail sale of commodities er articles, either for cash or on credit, and includes any offices, store-rooms, godowns or warehouses, whether in the same premises or elsewhere, used in connection with such sale or with the storage of commodities or articles for the purpose of such sale and also includes such other class or classes of premises as the State Government may, _ after taking into consideration the nature of the work carried on there, by notification, declare to be shops for the purposes of this Act, but does not include an establishment. •
Explanation.—If any doubt arises as to whether any premises are a shop or a commercial establishment or an establishment for public entertainment or amusement, the question shall be referred to the State Government by the registering authz3rity, sue motu or on application, and the decision of the State Government thereon shall be final;
(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) "wages" means wages as defined in the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 ;
(16) "week" means a period of seven days beginning at midnight on Sunday; and
(17) "young person" means a person who has completed his twelfth year but has not completed his fifteenth year.
3. References to time of day in this Act shall be deemed to be references to Indian Standard Time, which is five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich mean time.