Under the provisions of this section, the Chief Inspector or an Inspector is empowered to enter at all reasonable times with such assistance as may be necessary, any place which is or which is being used as an establishment and make its examination and that of any prescribed registers, records, notices and take on the spot or otherwise evidence of any persons as he may deem necessary and make copies or take extracts from any book, registers or other documents and exercise such other powers as may be necessary for carrying out the purpose of this Act. But in order to entitle an Inspector to inspect establishments and do all acts enumerated in this section, he must have been appointed by the Government in accordance with the provision of section 36 of the Act. The Chief Inspector or the Inspectors so appointed are empowered under this section to enter any premises which is being used as an establishment and to examine the premises and the records with such assistance as he or they may like. In other words, any Inspector appointed under section 36 of the Act can also take the assistance of any other person or persons as may be necessary for carrying out the purpose of the Act.

The duties of the Inspector have been specified in rule 17 of Delhi Shops and Establishments Rules, 1954. The duties laid down in the said rule make it obligatory on the part of the Chief Inspector/Inspector to make such examination of the premises and of the registers, records or notices as may appear to him to be necessary for satisfying himself that the provisions of the Act and of the Rules and of any order or notification issued by the Government under the Act or the Rules made thereunder are being properly observed, and in particular has to satisfy himself—

1. that the establishment is duly registered under the Act;
2. that the registers, records and notices required to be maintained or displayed under the Act or the Rules are properly maintained or displayed;
3. that the interval of rest and holidays required to be granted or observed under the Act are granted and observed and that the limits of hours of work and spread-over laid down under the Act are not exceeded;
4. that the provisions of the Act relating to the opening and closing hours are duly observed;
5. that the provisions of the Act and the Rules regarding leave are property observed;
6. that the provisions of the Act and the Rules relating to cleanliness and precautions against fire are properly observed;
7. that the provisions of the Act relating to the payment of overtime are duly observed;
8. that the wages and other dues are being paid to employees in time as required under the Act;
9. that in dispensing with the services of an employee the provision of the Act and Rules have been complied with and no dues payable under the Act or Rules have been withheld;
10. that no child is allowed to work in an establishment.

In carrying out such examinations, the Chief Inspector or any Inspector concerned may interrogate such person on the premises of the establishment as he may consider necessary provided that no such person is required to give answer to any question, the answer to which might tend to incriminate him. However, the Chief Inspector or Inspector concerned may require any employer to produce authentic extract from the record of any school, Panchayat or municipality or in the absence of such extract to produce at his own expense a certificate of age from a registered medical practitioner or a declaration from either of the parents or if the parents are not alive from the nearest living relation or any other evidence of age to the satisfaction of the Chief Inspector or the Inspector, as the case may be, in respect of any young person employed whose age he may have reason to doubt. See Rule 17 of the Delhi Shops and Establishments Rules, 1954 as also the Notification No. 12 (23)/55 I & L., dated 2-1-1957.