THE DELHI SHOPS AND ESTABLISHMENTS ACT, 1954
Section 1: SHORT TITLE, EXTENT, COMMENCEMENT AND APPLICATION.
(1) This Act may be called the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, 1954.
(2) It extends to the whole of Union Territory of Delhi.
(3) It shall come into force on such date1 as Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint in this behalf.
(4) It shall apply in the first instance only to the Municipal Areas, Notified Areas and Cantonment limits of Delhi, New Delhi, Shahadra, Civil Lines, Mehrauli, Red Fort and Delhi Cantonment but Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that it shall come into force in any other local area or areas or shall apply to such shops or establishments or class of shops and establishments in such other areas as may be specified in the notification.
The Act, which received the assent of the President on 19th June, 1954, came into force with effect from the 1st of February, 1955, vide Notification No. F.5/51-1 & L, dated 17th January, 1955. The Act will apply only in Delhi and not outside Delhi. The provisions of the Act will apply to the shops and establishments located in Delhi and not to any establishment working outside Delhi.
Thus, the office which the petitioner had in Iraq by itself cannot be termed as an establishment to be covered under the Act. Also it has been held by the Delhi High Court that the mere fact that the business of the petitioner is being carried on from that office so the petitioner's officer in Delhi could not be treated as an establishment to be covered under the Act; Bhandari Builders Pvt. Ltd. v. M.K. Seth, 1988 (15) DRJ 77 (SN).
The Supreme Court has observed that the preamble is a key to the enactment and it may legitimately be construed to solve any ambiguity or to fix the meaning of words which may have more than one, or to keep the effect of the statute within its real scope, whenever the enacting part is in any of these respects open to doubt.
The scope of the Act is a progressive piece of legislation and design to settle the disputes on a new pattern hitherto intention to judicial machinery set in the country. The object of all labour legislation is to ensure fair wages and to prevent disputes so that production might not be adversely affected.