Delhi Shops and Establishments Act,1954 — Physical PDF page 26 of 27

members thereof may be prosecuted and punished under this Act for any offence for which an
employer in an establishment is punishable:
     Provided that the firm or association may give notice to the Inspector that it has nominated
one of its members who is resident in the Union Territory to be the employer for the purposes of
this Act and such individual shall so long as he is so resident, be deemed to be the employer for
the purposes of this Act until further notice cancelling the nomination is received by the Inspector
or until he ceases to be a partner or member of the firm or association.
     (2) Where the owner of an establishment is a company, any one of the directors thereof, or in
the case of a private company any one of the shareholders thereof, may be prosecuted and
punished under this Act for any offence for which the employer in the establishment is
punishable:
     Provided that the company may give notice to the Inspector that it has nominated a director
or, in the case of a private company, a shareholder who is resident in the Union Territory to be
the employer in the establishment for the purposes of this Act, and such director or shareholder
shall so long as he is so resident be deemed to be the occupier in the establishment for the
purposes of this Act, until further notice cancelling his nomination is received by the Inspector or
until he ceases to be a director or shareholder.
     44. Exemption of occupier from liability in certain cases.—Where the occupier of a shop
or commercial establishment is charged with an offence against this Act or the rules or orders
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made thereunder, he shall be entitled, upon complaint duly made by him, to have his agent or
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servant whom the charges as the actual offender brought before the court at the time appointed
for hearing the charge; and if, after the commission of the offence has been proved, the occupier
proves to the satisfaction of the Court—               aC
        (a) that he had used due diligence to enforce the execution of this Act and the rules or
             orders made thereunder; and          di
        (b) that the said agent or servant committed the offence in question without his
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             knowledge, consent or connivance, or wilful neglect or default.
     That agent or servant shall be convicted of the offence and shall be liable to the like fine as if
he were the occupier, and the occupier shall be discharged from any liability for the offence.
     45. Cognizance of offence.—(1) No prosecution under this Act, or the rules or orders made
thereunder shall be instituted except by or with the previous sanction of the Chief Inspector
appointed under the Act.
     (2) No court inferior to that of a Magistrate of the First Class shall try any offence under this
Act or any rule or order made thereunder.
                                               COMMENTS
     The Court not inferior to that of a Magistrate of the First Class shall take cognizance of any
offence under this Act or any rule or order made thereunder only when a prosecution is instituted
with the previous sanction of Chief Inspector appointed under the Act. In other words, in the
absence of previous sanction of the Chief Inspector, the Court cannot take cognizance of any
offence under this Act or any rules or orders made thereunder. The provisions of this section
apply to all offences under this Act or rules or orders made thereunder and make no exemption in
any case.
     46. Savings.—Nothing in this Act shall apply to—
        (a) any office of or under the Central Government or Delhi Administration;
        (b) any office of any local authority, any Railway Administration, the Reserve Bank of
             India, the Delhi Development Authority, the Delhi Water Supply and Sewage Disposal
             Undertaking, the Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking and the Delhi Transport
             Undertaking of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (now Delhi Transport Corporation),
             the Delhi University or Airlines Corporation; or
        (c) any telegraph, telephone or postal service.
     47. Power to make rules.—(1) The Government may, after previous publication make, by
notification in the Official Gazette, rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.