Individuals planning on starting commercial establishments in any part of the state that falls under the jurisdiction of Maharashtra Government have to register the establishment under the Bombay Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1948.
There were a few changes made to this Act recently, to additionally cater to the needs of workers, unlike the past where they were more focused on the owners.
The new Act created and spelt out rules relating to proper work hours for public places and 24-hour businesses such as movie theatres, restaurants, financial institutions, medical practices, and retail outlets. Furthermore, the requirements when dealing with all-female staff were something often overlooked.
They also enforced rules relating to the hours in a workday that an employee could spend in an office, enforcing that they had to be paid, over time, if they were required to stay back beyond those hours. There needed to be a standardised leave policy as well, with a specific number of days that employees were approved paid leave. The rules relating to paid holidays, festival holidays, and certain other holidays could vary from establishment to establishment.
There were several mandatory requirements concerning health and safety of employees as well. Proper cleanliness, hygiene, ventilation, and lighting were a must, following the right guidelines. Additionally, specific provisions had to be implemented for clean drinking water and washrooms between men and women. Based on the number of employees at the establishment, there should also be provisions for eating.
Once an individual begins the registration process for the Shops and Establishments Act, while the papers are reviewed, the premises are inspected, so that they meet the needed requirements.
There are multiple steps, but they are quite easy to be handled. Filling out the application forms and submitting them with the proper information and details is mandatory. There would be an OTP sent to the mobile number provided, and this should be added to complete the application process.
After creating an account on the portal, making sure the forms and details are provided, is the second step. There are some documents to be uploaded as proof of the information provided. Post everything being uploaded, there is a minor payment to be made. Applicants will receive a notification on the portal informing them of the payment. Post the completion of the payment, their application status changes.
If there are issues with the application, the portal would inform the applicant, and they would have to make changes and re-upload the same. After the verification of the documents, the status on the portal will change from ‘under scrutiny’ to accept. A couple of days later, the candidate will be able to download their certificate. It is necessary to save the details of the application form since they are needed at the time of renewing the application.