With a few Indian states already taking the lead and putting the inspections on hold till after the registration process is complete, Uttarakhand as well, decided to follow suit.
The Uttarakhand Government declared that under the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ initiative, they published the Business Reform Action Plan. Under this Plan, Uttarakhand has directed for the exemption from prior inspection of applicants who are planning on registering under the Shops and Establishments Act) 1962, which is also called the Uttarakhand Dookan Aur Vanijya Adhiniyam.
According to the Uttarakhand Dookan Aur Vanijya Adhiniyam, 1962, when shops or establishments are in the process of registering for the Act and submit applications, the Labour department conducts the inspection. These inspections are usually handled only after reviewing all the documents and applications that have been submitted. The Labour Department grants or rejects the registration certificate based on the inspection report.
Since the registration process is a lengthy but mandatory one, to encourage shopkeepers and employers to go through the process, the Government of Uttarakhand has decided to shorten it by moving the inspection to much later, after handling the registration. Another reason for the change was reducing the time spent in handling this process with the Department now providing tentative registration certificates, within 24 hours.
Since the new Uttarakhand Shops and Establishments Act, 2017 does not have a mandate requiring the prior inspection before completing the registration of a shop or establishment, throughout the state, establishments can begin working and handling their businesses, with the inspection done at a later date.
However, there are exceptions to every rule, and inspections can be conducted before the registration if there is reason to believe the shop or establishment is not following rules, or planning on doing something illegal.
Other than the significant change mentioned above, there are another two changes that have
been mentioned:
1. Final registrations will be granted within one day from the date of submitting the
application
2. Eliminate the requirement of renewal of registration:
a. The new Uttarakhand Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment And
Conditions Of Service) Act, 2017 does not contain any provision of renewal of
shops and establishments registration. So, the final registration certificate is likely
to be granted for a lifetime.
All shops or establishments have to mandatorily register for the shops and the establishment’s Act if they are interested in handling any kind of business in any part of Uttarakhand. However, there is a rule stating that companies with less than ten employees do not have to go through the process if they do not want to.
Getting a Shops licence is beneficial for a lot of other processes that a business has to handle, such as other documentation processes or even some more important business requirements like going through a loan process or opening a company, current account at the bank.