The Weekly Holiday Act, 1942 provides for the grant of weekly holidays to persons employed in shops, restaurants and theatres. The Act provides that every shop shall remain entirely closed on one day of the week, which day shall be specified by the shop-keeper in a notice permanently exhibited in a conspicuous place in the shop. Further the state government may require in respect of shops or any specified class of shops that they shall be closed at such hour in the afternoon of one week-day in every week in addition to weekly day off.
1) The State Government may, subject to the condition of previous publication by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may-
(a) define the person who shall be deemed to be employed in a confidential capacity or in a position of management for the purpose of sections 4 and 5;
(b) regulate the exercise of their powers and the discharge of their duties by inspectors;
(c) require registers and records to be maintained and notice to be displayed in establishment to which this Act applies and prescribe the form and contents thereof.
(3) Every rule made by the State Government under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before the State Legislature.
Power of exemption and suspension
The Central Government in respect of establishments under its control, and the State Government in respect of all other establishments within the State may, subject to such conditions, if any, as it thinks fit to impose, exempt any establishment to which this Act applies from all or any specified provisions of this Act, and may, on any special occasion in connection with a fair or festival or a succession of public holidays, suspend for a specified period the operation of this Act.
No deduction or abatement of the wages of any person employed in an establishment to which this Act applies shall be made on account of any day or part of a day on which the establishment has remained closed or a holiday has been allowed in accordance with sections 3,4 and 5, and if such person is employed on the basis that he would not ordinarily receive wages for such day or a part of a day he shall nonetheless be paid for such day or part of a day the wages he would have drawn had the establishment not remained closed or the holiday not been allowed on that day or part of a day.
