WEEKLY HOLIDAYS ACT,
1942
[Act No. 18 of Year 1942]
An
Act to provide for the grant of weekly holidays to persons employed
in shops, restaurants and theatres
Comment: The purpose of the Act is to provide for the grant of
weekly holidays to persons employed in shops, restaurants and
theatres.
It is hereby enacted as follows: -
1. Short title, extent and
commencement
(1) This Act may be called the Weekly
Holidays Act, 1942.
(2) It extends to the whole of India
(3) It shall come into force in a State
or in a specified area within a State only if the State Government
by notification in the Official Gazette so directs.
2. Definitions
In this Act, unless there is anything
repugnant in the subject or context,
(a) "establishment" means a shop,
restaurant or theatre;
(b) "day" means a period of twenty-four
hours beginning at midnight;
(c) "Restaurant" means any premises in
which is carried on principally or wholly the business of supplying
meals or refreshments to the public or a class of the public for
consumption on the premises but does not include a restaurant
attached to a theatre;
(d) "shop" includes any premises where
any retail trade or business is carried on, including the business
of a barber, or hair dresser, and retail sales by auction, but
excluding the sale of programmers, catalogues, and other similar
sales at theatres;
(e) "theatre" includes any premises
intended principally or wholly for the presentation of moving
pictures, dramatic performances or stage entertainments;
(f) "week" means a period of seven days
beginning at midnight on Saturday.
3. Closing of shop
(1) Every shop shall remain entirely
closed on one day of the week, which day shall be specified by the
shop-keeper in a notice permanently exhibited in a conspicuous place
in the shop.
(2) The day so specified shall not be
altered by the shop-keeper more often than once in three
months.
4. Weekly holidays in shops,
restaurants and theatres
Every person employed otherwise than in a
confidential capacity or in a position of management in any shop,
restaurant or theatre shall be allowed in each week a holiday of one
whole day:
PROVIDED that nothing in this section
shall apply to any person whose total period of employment in the
week including any days spent on authorised leave is less than six
days or entitle to an additional holiday a person employed in a shop
who has been allowed a whole holiday on the day on which the shop
has remained closed in pursuance of section 3.
5. Additional half-day closing of
holiday
(1) The State Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, require in respect of shops or
any specified class of shop that they shall be closed at such hour
in the afternoon of one week-day in every week in addition to the
day provided for by section 3 as may be fixed by the State
Government, and, in respect of theatres and restaurants or any
specified class of either or both, that every person employed
therein otherwise than in a confidential capacity or in a position
of management shall be allowed in each week an additional holiday of
one half-day commencing at such hour in the after noon as may be
fixed by the State Government.
(2) The State Government may, for the
purposes of this section, fix different hours for different shop or
different classes of shop or for different areas or for different
times of the year.
(3) The weekly day on which a shop is
closed in pursuance of a requirement under sub-section (1) shall be
specified by the shop-keeper in a notice permanently exhibited in a
conspicuous place in the shop and shall not be altered by the
shop-keeper more often than once in three months.
6. No deduction or abatement to
be made from wages
No deduction or abatement of the wages of
any person employed in an establishment to which this Act applies
shall be made on account of any day or part of a day on which the
establishment has remained closed or a holiday has been allowed in
accordance with sections 3,4 and 5, and if such person is employed
on the basis that he would not ordinarily receive wages for such day
or a part of a day he shall nonetheless be paid for such day or part
of a day the wages he would have drawn had the establishment not
remained closed or the holiday not been allowed on that day or part
of a day.
7. Inspectors
(1) The State Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, appoint persons to be
inspectors for the purposes of this Act within such local limits as
it may assign to each such persons.
(2) Every inspector appointed under this
section shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of
section 21 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).
8. Powers of
inspectors
(1) Subject to any rules made in this
behalf by the State Government, an inspector may, within the local
limits for which he is appointed,
(a) enter and remain in any establishment
to which this Act applies with such assistants, if any, being
servants of the Government as he thinks fit;
(b) make such examination of any such
establishment and of any record, register or notice maintained
therein in pursuance of rules made under clause (c) of sub-section
(2) of section 10, and take on the spot or otherwise such evidence
of any person as he may deem necessary for carrying out the purposes
of this Act;
(c) exercise such other power as may be
necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
(2) Any person having the custody of any
record, register or notice maintained in pursuance of rules made
under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 10 shall be bound to
produce it when so required by the inspector, but no person shall be
compellable to answer any question if the answer may tend directly
or indirectly to criminate himself.
9. Penalties
In the event of any contravention of the
provisions of section 3 or section 4, of a requirement imposed by
notification under sub-section (1) of section 5, or section 6, or of
the rules made under clause (c) for sub-section (2) of section 10,
the proprietor or other person responsible for the management of the
establishment in which such contravention takes place shall be
punishable with fine which may extend, in the case of the first
offence, to twenty-five rupees, and, in case of second or subsequent
offence, to two hundred and fifty rupees.
10. Rules
(1) The State Government may, subject to
the condition of previous publication by notification in the
Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this
Act.
(2) In particular and without prejudice
to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may-
(a) define the person who shall be deemed
to be employed in a confidential capacity or in a position of
management for the purpose of sections 4 and 5;
(b) regulate the exercise of their powers
and the discharge of their duties by inspectors;
(c) require registers and records to be
maintained and notice to be displayed in establishment to which this
Act applies and prescribe the form and contents thereof.
(3) Every rule made by the State
Government under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it
is made, before the State Legislature.
11. Power of exemption and
suspension
The Central Government in respect of
establishments under its control, and the State Government in
respect of all other establishments within the State may, subject to
such conditions, if any, as it thinks fit to impose, exempt any
establishment to which this Act applies from all or any specified
provisions of this Act, and may, on any special occasion in
connection with a fair or festival or a succession of public
holidays, suspend for a specified period the operation of this
Act.