The Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Employees Life Insurance) Act, 1980.

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The Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Employees Life Insurance) Act, 1980

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GOVERNMENT OF GUJARAT

LEGISLATIVE AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT

Gujarat Act No. 32 of 1980

The Gujarat Shops and Establishments
(Employees Life Insurance) Act, 1980

(As modified upto the 31st December, 2005)
The Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Employees Life Insurance) Act, 1980

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THE GUJARAT SHOPS AND ESTABLISHMENTS
(EMPLOYEES LIFE INSURANCE) ACT, 1980.

CONTENTS.
PREAMBLE.
SECTIONS.

1. Short title, extent, commencement and application.

2. Definitions.

3. Group insurance scheme.

4. Limitation on the schemes.

5. Qualifications of employees for benefit of life insurance.

6. Contributions.

7. Employers to furnish return and maintain registers.

8. Powers and duties of local authorities.

9. Power of State Government to enforce provisions of Act within areas of local
authorities.

10. Power to make bye-laws.

11. Power of State Government to provide for performance of duties on default
by local authority.

12. Expenses of local authority to be paid out of its fund.

13. Appointment of Inspectors.

14. Powers and duties of Inspectors.

15. Inspectors to be public servants.

16. Employer and manager to produce register, records etc. for Inspection.

17. Offences.

18. Determinations of employer for the purposes of this Act.

19. Exemption of employer or manager from liability in certain cases.

20. Cognizance of offence.

21. Recovery of contribution.

22. Protection of action taken in good faith.

23. Exemption.

24. Power to make rules.

SCHEDULE.

The Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Employees Life Insurance) Act, 1980

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GUJARAT ACT No. 32 OF 1980.1 

[THE GUJARAT SHOPS AND ESTABLISHMENTS
(EMPLOYEES LIFE INSURANCE) ACT, 1980].
[26th November 1980.]

An Act to provide for life insurance benefits to employees engaged in shops,
commercial establishments, residential hotels, restaurants, eating houses,
theatres, other places of public amusement or entertainment and
other establishments and for matters connected therewith.

It is hereby enacted in the Thirty -first Year of the Republic of India, as
follows :-

1. (1) This Act may be called the Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Employees
Life Insurance) Act, 1980.

(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Gujarat.

(3) It shall come into force on such date, as the State Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

(4) It shall apply in the first instance to all the establishments menti oned in
the Schedule.

(5) The State Government may, after giving by a notification in the Official
Gazette not less than three month's notice of its intention so to do may by a
like notification, add to the Schedule any establishment or a class of
establishments in respect of which it is of opinion that this Act should apply
and thereupon the Schedule shall be deemed to be amended accordingly.

2. In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-

(1) "apprentice" means a person who is employed, whether on payment of
wages or not, for the purpose of being trained in any trade, craft or
employment in any establishment;

(2) "continuous' service" means uninterrupted service rendered by an
employee before or after the application of this Act to the establishment in
which the employee is employed.

Explanation.-For the purpose of determination of continuous service,
the period of absence of the employee on account of sickness, accident, leave,
lay off strike or a lock out or cessation of work not due to any fault of the
employee concerned, shall be included;

(3) "contribution" means the sum of money payable as contribution in
accordance with the provisions of section 6;

(4) "employee" means a person wholly or principally employed, whether
directly or through any agency and whether for wages or other consideration
in or in connection with any establishment; and includes an apprentice but
does not include a member of the employer's family;

(5) "employer" means a person owning or having ultimate control over the
affairs of an establishment;

(6) "establishment" means a shop, commercial establishment, residential
hotel, restaurant, eating h ouse, theatre or other place of public amusement or
entertainment which is registered under the Bombay Shops and
Establishments Act, 1948, or which is required by the provisions of that Act
to be registered but is not so registered;

(7) "Inspector" means an Inspector appointed under section 13;

(8) "local authority" means-

Short title, extent,
commencement and
application.
Definitions.
Bom. LXXIX of
1948.
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(i) a municipal corporation constituted under the Bombay Provincial
Municipal Corporations Act, 1949;

(ii) a municipality constituted under the Gujarat Municipalities Act,
1963;

(iii) a district panchayat constituted under the Gujarat Panchayats Act,
1961;

and includes any other body which the State Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be a local authority for
the purposes of this Act;

(9) "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; '

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

(11) "qualified employee" means an employee qualified under section 5;

(12) "scheme" means a scheme made under section 3;

(13) "wages" means wages as defined in the Payment of wages Act, 1936;

(14) other words and expressions used, but not defined in this Act shall have
the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Bombay Shops and
Establishments Act, 1948.

3. (1) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the State Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, make a group insurance scheme for
providing insurance on the lives of all qualified employees in the
establishments to which this Act applies.

(2) A scheme under sub -section (1) may provide for all or any of the
following matters, namely:-

(a) the plan of assurance,

(b) the sum assured,

(d) the proof of age of the qualified employee,

(e) nomination by a qualified employee or a person to whom the sum
assured is payable and the manner of making such nomination,

(f) such other matters relating or incidental to the scheme as may be
prescribed.

4. (1) No scheme shall provide for,-

(a) insurance of a qualified employee for a sum exceeding two
thousand and five hundred rupees ;

(b) a rate of contribution from each employer exceeding six rupees
per employee per annum and a rate of contribution from each
qualified employee exceeding six rupees per annum.

5. No employee shall be qualified for the benefit of the life insurance under the
scheme unless on a qualifying date,-

(a) he is a full time employee;

(b) he has attained the age of 18 years but has not attained the age of 60 years;
Bom. LIX of 1949.
Guj. 34 of 1964.
Guj. VI of 1962.
4 of 1936
Bom. LXXIX of
1948.
Group insurance
scheme.
Limitation on the
schemes.
Qualifications of
employees for
benefit of life
insurance.
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Explanation I.-For the purposes of this section "a full time employee" means
an employee who is engaged to work for such time as is not less than a normal
working day within the meaning of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

Explanation II. -For the purposes of this section an employee who has not
rendered uninterrupted service for six months, shall be deemed to be in continuous
service, if he has been actually employed for not less than 120 days by an employer
during the six months immediately preceding,

Explanation III. -For the purposes of this section a "qualifying date" means
the 1st day of January of a year.

6. (1) (a) The contribution payable under "this Act in respect of a qualified
employee shall comprise of-

(i) contribution payable by the employe r (hereinafter referred
to us "the employer's contribution"), and

(ii) contribution payable by the qualified employee
(hereinafter referred to as "the employee's contribution").

(b) The contribution shall be paid to such insurer and at such rates as
specified in the scheme,

(2) A year shall be the unit in respect of which all contributions shall be
payable.

(3) The contribution payable in respect of each year shall fall due on the 1st
January of the year to which it relates.

(4) Every employer shall be liable to pay to the insurer specified in the
scheme both the employer's and employee's contribution and such
contribution shall be paid before the 15th January of the year to which the
contribution relates.

(5) Notwithstanding anything contai ned in any enactment but subject to the
provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder, the employer shall be
entitled, to recover from the qualified employee, the employee's contribution
by deduction from his wages in twelve equal montly instalments but not
otherwise, and such deduction shall be deemed to be the deduction authorised
by or under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936:

Provided that no such dedu ction shall be made from any wages other
than such as relate to the period in respect of which the contribution is
payable or in excess of the sum representing the employee's contribution for
the period.

(6) Notwithstanding any contract to the contrary no employer shall be entitled
to deduct the employer's contribution from any wages payable to an employee
or otherwise to recover it from the employee.

(7) Any sum duly deducted by an employer from the wages of the employee
under this Act shall be deemed to have been entrusted to him by the employee
for the purpose of paying the contribution in respect of which it was
deducted.

(8) The employer shall remit the employee's contribution to the insurer by
cheque, money order or in cash and shall bear the expens es of such
remittance.

(9) Where a qualified employee in respect of whom the employer has paid
contribution under sub-section (4) ceases at any time during the year to which
the contribution relates, to be an employee of an establishment, he may at any
11 of 1948.
Contributions.
4 of 1926.
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time before the amounts due to him is paid by the employer as a result of such
cesser, or, within one month, of such cesser, whichever is less be called upon
by the employer to exercise at any time before such cesser the option of
continuing to have the benefit of the insurance scheme till the end of the year
in which he ceases to be such employee.

(10) Where a qualified employee exercises under sub-section (9) the option to
continue to have the benefit of the insurance scheme, the employer shall be
entitled to deduct from the amounts due from the employer to the employee,
the aggregate of the employee's contributions which would have become
deductable from his w ages till the end of the year if the employee had not
ceased to be such employee.

(11) Where a qualified employee does not exercises the option within the
time specified in sub-section (9) or exercises the option of not continuing the
benefit, the employe r shall be entitled to the refund of the amount of the
contribution paid by him under sub -section (4) in so far as it relates to the
period from the date of the cessor upto the end of the year.

7. (1) Every employer shall submit to such authority a return in such form and
containing such particulars relating to the persons employed by him or to an
establishment in respect of which he is an employer, as may be prescribed.

(2) Where in respect of any establishment, the authority prescribed under sub-
section (1), (hereinafter referred to as "the prescribed authority") has reason to
believe that a return required to be submitted under sub -section (1) has not
been so submitted, the prescribed authority may req uire any per - son in
charge of the establishment to furnish such particulars as it may consider
necessary for the purpose of enabling it to decide whether the establishment is
an establishment to which this Act applies.

(3) Every employer shall maintain s uch registers or records in respect of his
establishment as may be prescribed.

8. Save as otherwise provided in this Act, it shall be the duty of every local authority
to enforce, within the area subject to its jurisdiction, the provisions of this Act,
subject to such supervision of the State Government as may be prescribed :

Provided th at the local authority may by order direct that the said duty of
enforcing the provisions of this Act shall be discharged, in such circumstances and
subject to such conditions if any as may be specified in the order, by its Chief
Executive Officer or any other Officer subordinate to it.

Provided further that in respect of the areas not subject to the jurisdiction of
any local authority, it shall be the duty of the State Government to enforce the said
provisions.

9. Notwithstanding anything contained in section 8, the State Government may, by a
notification in the Official Gazette, direct that in the areas subject to the jurisdiction
of such local authority as may be s pecified in the notification the provisions of this
Act shall be enforced by the State Government from such date and for such period as
may be specified in the notification and there upon such local authority and officers
of such local authority shall be d ischarged from the duty of enforcing the provisions
of this Act within such area from the date and for the period as so specified :

Provided that the bye -laws, if any, made by the local authority under section
10 and in force in such areas before the date so specified shall continue to be in force
with amendments, if any, made therein, until such bye -laws are amended or
superseded by the State Government.

10. A local authority on which a duty is imposed under section 8 to enforce the
provisions of this Act may, with the previous sanction of the State Government, make
bye-laws not inconsistent with the provisions of the Act or the rules or orders made
by the State Government thereunder, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of
this Act.

Employers to
furnish return and
maintain registers.
Powers and duties
of local authorities.
Power of State
Government to
enforce provisions
of Act within areas
of local authorities.
Power to make bye-
laws.
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11. (1) If any local authority makes default in the performance of any duty
imposed by or under this Act, the State Government may a ppoint some
person to perform it and may direct that the expenses of performing it with a
reasonable remuneration to the person appointed to perform it shall be paid
forthwith by the local authority.

(2) If the expense and remuneration are not so paid, th e State Government
may, notwithstanding anything contained in any law relating to the municipal
fund or local fund or any other law for the time being in force, make an order
directing the bank in which any moneys of the local authority are deposited or
the person in charge, of the local Government Treasury or of any other place
of security in which the moneys of the local authority are deposited to pay
such expense and remuneration from such moneys as may be standing to the
credit of the local authority in such bank or may be in the hands of such
person or as may from time to time be received from or on behalf of the local
authority by way of deposit by such bank or person, and such bank or person
shall be bound to obey such order. Every payment made pursua nt to such
order shall be a sufficient discharge to such Bank or person from all liability
to the local authority in respect of any sum or sums so paid by it or him out of
the moneys of the local authority so deposited with such bank or person.

12. Notwithstanding anything contained in any enactment in regard to any municipal
or local fund, all expenses incurred by a municipality or any other local authority
under and for the purposes of this Act shall be paid out of the municipal or local fund,
as the case may be.

13. (1) For an area within the jurisdiction of a local authority whose duty it is to
enforce the provisions of this Act the local auth ority and for other areas the
State Government shall, subject to the provisions of sub -section (3), appoint
as many Inspectors as the local authority or the State Government, as the case
may be, may deem necessary for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of
this Act.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub -section (1) in the areas within
the jurisdiction of a local authority, the State Government may appoint
Inspectors for such supervision as the State Government may prescribe.

(3) A person po ssessing the prescribed qualifications shall be qualified, for
being appointed as an Inspector.

(4) A local authority, or, as the case may be, the State Government may direct
that the powers conferred on it by this section shall in such circum - stances,
and subject to such conditions (if any), as may be specified in the direction,
be exercised-

(a) in the case of a local authority, by its standing committee or by
any committee appointed by it in this behalf or, if such local authority
is a municipal corporation, by its Municipal Commissioner or Deputy
Municipal Commissioner, and

(b) in the case of the State Government, by any officer subordinate to
it.

14. Subject to any rules, made by the State Government, in this behalf , an Inspector
may, within the local limits for which he is appointed-

(a) enter at all reasonable times, accompanied with such persons in the
service of the Government or of any local authority as he thinks fit, any place
which he has reason to believe is an establishment;

(b) make such examination of any prescribed registers, records and notices,
and take on the spot or otherwise evidence of any person as he may deem
necessary, for carrying out the purposes of this Act; and

(c) exercise such other powers as may be prescribed, for carrying out the
purposes of this Act :
Power of State
Government to
provide for
performance of
duties on default by
local authority.
Expenses of local
authority to be paid
out of its fund.
Appointment of
Inspectors.
Powers and duties
of Inspectors.
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Provided that no one shall be required under this section to answer
any question or give any evidence tending to incriminate himself.

15. Every Inspector appointed, under section 13 shall be deemed to be a public
servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.

16. Every employer and in h is absence the manager shall on demand produce for
inspection by an Inspector all registers, records and notices required to be kept under
and for the purposes of this Act.

17. If any person,

(a) fails to pay any contribution which he is liable to pay under section 6; or

(b) deducts or attempts to deduct from the wages of an employee the whole or
any part of the employer's contribution; or

(d) makes a false return; or

(e) obstructs any Inspector or any other officer of the State Government or the
insurer in the discharge of his duties; or

(f) is guilty of contravention of or non -compliance with any of the requirements of this
Act or the rules made thereunder in respect of which no penalty is provided,

he shall be punishable with imprisonment, which may extend to three months,
or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees or with both.

18. (1) Where the owner of an establishment is a firm or other association of
individuals, any one of the individual partners or members thereof ma y be
prosecuted and punished under this Act :

Provided that the firm or association may give notice to the Inspector
that it has nominated one of its members who is resident in the State to - be
the employer for the purpose of this Act and such individual shall so long as
he is so resident be deemed to be the employer for the purposes of this Act,
until further notice cancelling the nomination is received by the Inspector or
until he ceases to be a partner or member of the firm or association.

(2) Where t he owner of an establishment is a company, any one of the
directors thereof, or in the case of a private company, any one of the share
holders thereof, may Be prosecuted and punished under this Act for any
offence for which the employer is punishable :

Provided that the company may give notice to the Inspector that it has
nominated a director or, in case of a private Company, a share holder who is
resident in the State to be the employer in the establishment for the purposes
of this Act, and such director or share holder shall so long as he is so resident
be deemed to be the employer in the establishment for the purposes of this
Act until further notice cancelling his nomination is received by the Inspector
or until he ceases to be a director or share holder

19. (1) Where the employer or manager of an establishment is charged with an
offence against this Act or the rules or orders made thereunder, he shall be
entitled upon complaint duly made by him to have any other person whom he
charges as the actual offender brought before the Court at the time appointed
for hearing the charge; and if after the commission of the offence has been
proved, the employer or manager of the establishment proves t o the
satisfaction of the Court-

(a) that he has used due diligence to enforce the execution of this Act,
and

Inspectors to be
public servants. 45 of 1860
Employes and
Manager to produce
register, records etc.
for Inspection.
Offences.
Determinations of
employer for the
purposes of this
Act.
Exemption of
employer or
manager from
liability in certain
cases.
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(b) that the said other person committed the offence in question with -
out his knowledge, consent or connivance, that other person shall be
convicted of the offence and shall be liable to the like fine as if he
were the employer or manager and the employer or manager shall be
discharged from any liability under this Act.

(2) When it is made to appear to the satisfaction of the Inspector at any time
prior the institution of the proceedings-

(a) that the employer or manager of the establishment has used all due
diligence to enforce the execution of this Act,

(b) that the offence has been committed by a person other than the
employer or manager, and

(c) that it has been committed without the knowledge, consent or
connivance of the employer or manager and in co ntravention of his
orders,

(d) the Inspector shall proceed against the person whom he believes to
be the actual offender without first proceeding, against the employer
or manager of the establishment, and such person shall be liable to the
like sentence as if he were the employer or manager.

20. No prosecution under this Act or the rules or orders made there - under shall be
instituted except by an Inspector and except with the previous sanction of an officer
or officers notified by the State Government in this behalf or the local authority, as
the case may be :

Provided that any local authority may direct that the powers conferred on it
by this section shall, in such circumstances and subject to such conditions, if any, as
may be sp ecified in the direction, be exercised by its standing committee or by any
committee appointed by it in this behalf or if such local authority is a municipal
corporation, by its Municipal Commissioner or Deputy Municipal Commissioner, or
by any other officer as may be specified in the direction.

21. Any contribution payable under this Act shall, without prejudice to any other
mode of recovery, be recoverable as an arrear of land revenue.

22. No suit or other proceeding shall lie against the State Government or a local
authority or any officer or employee of the State Government or of the local authority
for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this
Act or any rules made thereunder.

23. (1) Nothing in this Act shall apply to —

(i) establishments to which the Empl oyees' Provident Funds and
Family Pension Act, 1952 applies;

(ii) establishments of the Central Government, the State Government,
a local authority or a scheduled bank.

Explanation.-For the purposes of this section "Scheduled
bank" means a bank included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve
Bank of India Act, 1934;

(iii) an establishment exempted under section 4 of the Bombay Shops
and Establishments Act, 1948 from all the provisions of that Act.

(2) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette,
exempt any class of establishments from all or any of the provisions of this
Act, subject to such conditions and for such period as may be specified in the
notification.

24. (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make
rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

Cognizance of
offence.
Recovery of
contributions.
Protection of action
taken in good faith.
Exemption.
19 of 1952.
2 of 1934.
Bom. LXX IX of
1948.
Power to make
rules.
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(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the fore - going
power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely
:-

(a) the other matters relating or incidental to the scheme under clause
(f) of sub-section (2) of section 3;

(b) the returns to be submitted under sub -section (1) of section 7, the
authority to which, and the form in which such returns shall be
submitted, and particulars relating to the persons employed by an
employer or to an establishment in respect of which he is an employer
to be specified in such form :

(d) the other powers to be exercised by an Inspector under clause (6)
of sub-section (2) of section 8;

(e) any other matter which is to be, or may be prescribed.

(3) The power to make rules conferred by this section shall be subject to the
condition of the rules being made after previous publication.

(4) All rules made under this section shall be laid for not less than thirty days
before the State Legislature as soon as possible after they are made and shall
be subject to rescission by the State Legislature or to such modifications as
the State Legislature may make during the session in which they are so laid or
the session immediately following.

(5) Any rescission or modification so made by the State Legislature shall be
published in the Official Gazette, and shall thereupon take effect.

SCHEDULE

(See sub-section (4) of section 1)

Establishments

Establishments in the Cities of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat as
constituted under the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949.

-------------------

1 For Statement of Objects and Reasons see Gujarat Government Gazette, Part V Extraordinary,
dated the 18th September 1980, pp. 27 -20 to 27-21.
 This Act was assented to by the President on the 21st November, 1980.

Bom. LIX of 1949
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