Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025

The Governor of Haryana, vide notification no. Leg. 27/2025, dated 12^th November 2025, has promulgated the Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, further to amend the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958, in its applicability to Haryana. The key features of the ordinance are as follows:

1. The Ordinance will come into effect from 12^th November 2025.
2. The provisions of the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958, with the exception of section 13A, will apply to shops and establishments that employ twenty or more workers. This indicates that the threshold for applicability and registration of an establishment under the Act is set at twenty or more employees.
3. The Registration Certificate shall be valid until it is either amended or cancelled due to the closure of the establishment or revoked by the relevant authority.
4. Employers are required to notify the Labour Department online of any changes to the information provided at the time of registration. This has to be done within seven (7) days from the date of such change.
5. In the event of changes concerning the name of the establishment, employer, manager and workforce details, the employer must submit an application for an amended registration certificate, and no fee shall be charged for the issuance of the amended registration certificate.
6. The employer is required to submit an online notification to the Labour Department regarding the closure of the establishment within thirty (30) days of its closure.
7. Section 13A is applicable to shops and establishments that employ fewer than twenty employees. This provision requires such establishments to provide the Labour Department with an online notification concerning the initiation of business activities.
8. The limit for daily working hours has been raised to ten (10) hours from the previous nine (9) hours, while still adhering to a weekly cap of forty-eight (48) hours.
9. The maximum allowable overtime hours per quarter have been increased from fifty (50) hours to one hundred and fifty-six (156) hours.
10. The duration of continuous working hours without a break for rest has been extended from five (5) hours to six (6) hours.
11. Each employer of an establishment is obligated to provide all employees with a letter of appointment, which must include the employee’s photograph, and to obtain an acknowledgement of receipt.
12. Each employer of an establishment must issue an identity card to every worker.

In addition to the aforementioned changes, there are also modifications to the penal provisions under the Act concerning violations of any of its provisions.