The Haryana assembly on Monday passed a bill increasing the daily working hours from nine to ten hours while retaining the overall weekly limit of 48 hours for employees of shops and private commercial establishments.
The Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2025 has been passed to amend the Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958.
While Labour Minister Anil Vij said that the bill aims to reduce the compliance burden on smaller establishments through reforms for promoting economic growth while ensuring continued protection for workers, Congress MLA Aditya Surjewala differed. Pointing to some of its provisions, he asked if it was ease of doing business or legalising "modern-day slavery".
Minister Vij said that the Bill was beneficial for both workers and shopkeepers, and it was in the interest of workers as well as traders.
There is also a provision for an increase in the permissible limit of overtime work per quarter from 50 hours to 156 hours, enabling shops and commercial establishments to meet peak business demands more efficiently.
The bill also seeks to increase the maximum period of continuous work without rest from five to six hours.
Surjewala moved an amendment which his party legislators backed to retain the existing nine-hour limit, but the House rejected it by voice vote.
Surjewala said that the Bill has the provision to increase the daily working hours from nine to ten while overtime has been proposed to be increased from 50 hours to 156, which, he said, would work out to two extra hours every day.
"Now, take 10 hours of daily work with two hours of overtime. If any person has to work 12 hours a day for six days a week, what time does it leave for himself or his family?" he said.
Surjewala asked whether it was ease of doing business or legalising modern-day slavery.
Vij told the House that the increase in threshold limit from zero employees to 20 or more employees in any establishment for registration and other regulatory provisions of the Bill in order to reduce compliance burden for smaller businesses, will encourage job creation and eliminate the fear of non-compliance.
Establishments with fewer than 20 workers will no longer need a registration certificate under the bill but they will only need to provide an intimation of their business, Vij said. -- PTI
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