[1]THE
PUNJAB FAIR PRICE SHOPS (FACTORIES) ORDINANCE,
1971
(Ordinance XIII of 1971)
[3 July 1971 ]
An Ordinance to provide for the
establishment of
Preamble.– WHEREAS it is
expedient to provide for the establishment and maintenance of fair price shops
for the sale of certain articles of daily use at cheaper rates to the workers
employed in certain factories in the Punjab ;
NOW, THEREFORE, in pursuance of the
Martial Law Proclamation of 25th March, 1969, read with the Provisional
Constitution Order, and in exercise of all powers enabling him in that behalf,
the Governor of the Punjab is pleased to make and promulgate the following
Ordinance:-
1. Short
title, extent and commencement.– (1) This Ordinance may be called the Punjab Fair Price
Shops (Factories) Ordinance, 1971.
(2) It
shall extend to whole of the Punjab .
(3) It
shall come into force on such date, in such areas and shall apply to such
factories or class of factories as Government may, by notification in the
official Gazette, specify in that behalf.
2. Definitions.– In this Ordinance, unless the
context otherwise requires, the following expressions shall have the meanings
hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say–
(a) “Chief Inspector” means a Chief Inspector
appointed under section 12 of this Ordinance and includes a person appointed by
Government to perform all or any of the functions of a Chief Inspector in any
area;
(b) “collective bargaining agent” means a
registered trade union of workers in a factory to act as agent or
representative of workers in matters of collective bargaining with the employer
and where there are more than one registered trade union in a factory, the
trade union which as a result of a referendum held under section 22 of the
Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969, has been determined as a collective
bargaining agent;
(c) “employer” means a person or body of persons
whether incorporated or not, who or which employ workers in a factory and
includes an owner, occupier, manager, agent, representative, or any other
person who is ultimately in supervision, control and management thereof;
(d) “essential articles” mean articles mentioned
in the Schedule to this Ordinance and include any other article which the
Government may, by notification, declare to be an essential article for the
purposes of this Ordinance;
(e) “factory” means any premises including a part
thereof on which any manufacturing process is carried on with the aid of power
but does not include a mine;
(f) “fair price” means the price at which an
essential article is purchased or procured by the employer under section 7 of
the Ordinance, or controlled price, if any, fixed by the Government for the
same essential article, whichever is less, and where an essential article
manufactured or produced in a factory is to be supplied by that factory for the
fair price shop thereof, the ex-factory
wholesale price of such article;
(g) “fair price shop” means a shop established and
maintained by an employer in or near a factory for selling essential articles
at fair price to the workers of his factory and includes any room or premises
where stock of essential articles is kept or stored;
(h) “family” means–
(i) wife or husband, as the case may be, and
children of a worker; and
(ii) parents, brothers and sisters of a worker
residing with and wholly dependant upon him;
(i) “Government” means Government of the Punjab ;
(j) “Inspector” means an Inspector appointed under
section 12 of the Ordinance;
(k) “Managing Committee” means a Managing
Committee constituted under section 10 of the Ordinance;
(l) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules framed
under this Ordinance; and
(m) “worker” means a person, other than an
employer, employed in a factory for doing any skilled, unskilled, manual or
clerical work for hire or reward, and employed whether directly or through a
contractor, on the terms of employment either expressed or implied and includes
an apprentice and a laid off worker.
3. Establishment
of fair price shops.–
Every employer of a factory to which this Ordinance is applied shall, within
one month from the date of its application, establish and maintain a fair price
shop for the workers of his factory:
Provided
that Government may, for sufficient reasons, by an order in writing extend the
said period in respect of any factory or class of factories.
4. Keeping
of sufficient stocks.–
An employer shall at all times keep and maintain or cause to be kept or
maintained in the fair price shop sufficient stock and quantity of all
essential articles to cater for the needs of the workers.
5. Display
of list of fair prices.–
Every employer shall cause to be prepared in Urdu and displayed prominently
inside and outside the fair price shop, lists showing the fair price of each and
every essential article and no such article shall be sold or allowed to be sold
at a price higher than the price entered therein.
6. Monthly
quota for a worker.–
A worker may in a month buy from the fair price shop of the factory in which he
is employed, such length, number or quantity of all or any of the essential
articles as may be determined by the Managing Committee.
7. Purchase
and procurement of essential articles.– (1) For the purpose of maintaining adequate supply at a
fair price shop, the employer shall purchase or procure manufactured essential
articles from the manufacturing factories at whole sale ex-factory price and agricultural and other essential articles from
the nearest whole sale market at the minimum rates prevalent in such market at
the time of purchase or procurement.
(2) In
the purchase or procurement of essential articles under sub-section (1), the
employer shall make interest-free investment.
8. Sale of essential articles.– The essential
articles at the fair price shop shall be sold to the workers at the fair price
and the employer shall not charge or allow to be charged any profit whatsoever
thereon, nor he shall include or add to the price of such articles any rent of
the fair price shop, salary of the staff employed therein, water and
electricity charges in respect thereof, fees or commission for auditing and
maintenance of accounts, price of stationery, furniture or fixtures used
therein, or any packing, handling, transportation or other incidental charges
in respect of such articles.
9. Purchase of articles on credit
basis.– Notwithstanding anything contained in the Payment of
Wages Act, 1936, a worker shall, during every month, be entitled to purchase on
credit basis from the fair price shop, essential articles of the value not
exceeding twenty-five per cent of his monthly wages:
Provided that unless a worker has
paid the price of essential articles purchased on credit in a month, he shall
not be entitled to purchase such articles on credit in the following month or
months and the employer in that case shall be competent to deduct the
outstanding amount of credit from his monthly wages.
10. Constitution of Managing Committee.– (1) As soon as may be, for every
factory there shall be constituted a Managing Committee consisting of four
members and a Chairman:
Provided that Government may, for
sufficient reasons, by notification, increase or decrease the number of members
of such Committee [2][:]
[3][Provided further that if women are
employed in a factory as workers, their representation at the Managing
Committee shall not be less than the proportion of their numerical strength in
the work force of the factory.]
(2) Out
of the total number of the members of the Managing Committee, half of the
members shall be nominated by the collective bargaining agent and the remaining
half by the employer:
Provided that where the collective
bargaining agent or the employer, as the case may be, fails to nominate all or
any of their members to the Managing Committee within the time specified by the
Chief Inspector such members shall be nominated by the Chief Inspector himself:
Provided further that where there is
no collective bargaining agent in a factory, the representatives of workers in
the Managing Committee shall be elected in the prescribed manner.
(3) Members of the Managing Committee may, in
the prescribed manner, unanimously nominate in writing, a person other than a
person from among themselves, to be the Chairman of such Committee and shall
convey their nomination to the Chief Inspector within the prescribed period.
(4) In
case the members are unable to nominate the Chairman under sub-section (3), the
Chief Inspector shall nominate a person, other than a member of the Managing
Committee, as the Chairman.
(5) The
normal term of the Managing Committee shall be two years from the date of its
constitution:
Provided that the Government may,
for sufficient reasons, reduce or enhance its normal term or dissolve it before
the expiry of the term and reconstitute it according to the provisions of this
Ordinance.
(6) The
Chairman and the members of the Managing Committee shall not be paid any
remuneration or compensation for the functions performed by them under this
Ordinance and the rules made thereunder.
11. Functions of the Managing Committee.– (1) The functions of the Managing
Committee shall be–
(a) to determine the quality and quantities of
essential articles to be purchased or procured by the employer at a time and
the quantities of such articles which should normally be available for sale to
the worker at a fair price shop;
(b) to check the quality of essential articles sold
at the fair price shop;
(c) to determine the length, number and quantity of
different essential articles which a worker shall be entitled to purchase from
the fair price shop for himself and his family during a month;
(d) to fix opening and closing hours of the fair
price shops and to regularise transaction of business therein ; and
(e) to perform any function which the Government
may, by a general or special order, deem fit to assign.
(2) The
provisions of clause (d) of sub-section (1) shall take effect notwithstanding
anything to the contrary contained in the West Pakistan Shops and
Establishments Ordinance, 1969, or any other law for the time being in force.
12. Appointment of Inspectors and Chief
Inspector and their functions.– (1) Government may appoint Inspectors for the purpose of
this Ordinance and the Inspector so appointed shall have jurisdiction in such
area or areas as the Government may direct.
(2) The Inspectors appointed under
sub-section (1) shall have the authority–
(a) to enter a fair price shop and to check the
quantity and examine the quality of essential articles being sold or stocked
for sale therein; and
(b) to check and examine documents, record or
registers kept and maintained in the fair price shop and, if necessary to take
extracts therefrom.
(3) Government
shall appoint a Chief Inspector for the Province or in any part thereof, who in
addition to his exclusive powers conferred on him under this Ordinance, shall
exercise all or any of the powers of an Inspector throughout the Province or in
any part thereof.
(4) All the Inspectors and the Chief
Inspector shall, while exercising powers under this Ordinance and the rules
made thereunder, be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section
21 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
13. Penalty.– (1) Whoever contravenes any of the
provisions of this Ordinance or rules made thereunder, shall be punishable with
imprisonment which may extend to one year or with fine which may extend to five
thousand rupees or with both, and in case of a continuing offence, with a
further fine which may extend to one hundred rupees for every day after the
first day during which the offence continued.
(2) Whoever
having been convicted of any offence under this Ordinance again commits such
offence shall, on conviction, be liable to double the punishment provided for
such offence under this Ordinance.
14. Cognizance and trial of offences.– (1) No court inferior to that of a
magistrate of the first class shall try any offence under this Ordinance or any
rule made thereunder.
(2) No
court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Ordinance or the rules
made thereunder, except on the report in writing of the facts constituting such
offence, made by the Inspector.
15. Indemnity.– No suit, prosecution, or other
legal proceedings shall lie against any person for anything which is in good
faith done or intended to be done under this Ordinance.
16. Exemption.– Government may, by notification in
the official Gazette, exempt any factory from all or any of the provisions of
this Ordinance for such period and on such conditions as it may deem fit.
17. Power to make rules.– (1) Government may make rules for
the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
(2) Without
prejudice to the generality of the power conferred by sub-section (1), such
rules may provide for all or any of the following matters:-
(a) Procedure for holding ballots for the election
of representatives of workers to the Managing Committee in case there is no
collective bargaining agent in any factory.
(b) Procedure for nominating the Chairman of a
Managing Committee.
(c) Procedure for convening and holding of meetings
by the Managing Committee.
(d) Manner in which questions raised before the
Committee shall be decided, minutes of meetings shall be recorded and decisions
of the Committee shall be implemented.
(e) Manner and form in which the record and
accounts shall be maintained and scrutinized.
(f) Manner in which the Chief Inspector and the
Inspectors shall exercise their powers under the Ordinance.
(g) Any other matter consequential or incidental
to the aforesaid matters.
Schedule
[See Section 2 (d)]
Serial No. Name of essential
articles
1. Wheat.
2. Pulses.
3. Wheat
flour.
4. Vegetable
ghee.
5. Coarse
cloth.
6. Laundry
soap.
7. Sugar.
[1]This Ordinance was promulgated by the Governor of Punjab on 30th July,
1971; published in the Punjab Gazette (Extraordinary), dated 3rd July, 1971,
pages 783 to 790; saved by Article 281 of the Interim Constitution of the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan (1972); and, validated by the Validation of Laws
Act, 1975 (XLIII of 1975).
[2]Substituted for the full-stop by the Punjab Fair
Representation of Women Act 2014 (IV of 2014).
[3]Inserted by the Punjab Fair Representation of Women Act
2014 (IV of 2014).
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