The Haryana Assembly has passed the Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which amends the original 1958 Act to formally increase the standard daily working hours for employees in shops and private commercial establishments from the previous nine hours to ten hours, with these hours inclusive of mandated rest intervals to ensure some level of worker welfare.

This comprehensive legislation carefully retains the established overall weekly working limit of 48 hours to remain in alignment with national labour standards, while simultaneously introducing provisions to raise the permissible quarterly overtime allowance from 50 hours to a significantly higher 156 hours, and permitting continuous work periods without a mandatory rest break to be extended from five hours to six hours, providing establishments greater operational flexibility.

Labour Minister Anil Vij strongly defended the reforms during the assembly debate, asserting that these changes are designed to substantially ease the regulatory and compliance burdens on smaller businesses by exempting establishments employing fewer than 20 workers from the previous mandatory registration requirements, now requiring only a simple intimation of operations, which he argued will stimulate economic growth, encourage entrepreneurship, and ultimately lead to increased job creation across the state without undermining essential worker protections.

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Opposition Congress MLA Aditya Surjewala launched a sharp and vehement critique of the bill during the session, characterising it as a regressive measure that effectively legalises modern-day slavery, emphasising that the combination of extended ten-hour regular shifts and the substantially increased overtime provisions could force employees into gruelling routines of up to 12 hours per day for six days a week, thereby drastically reducing valuable time available for personal rest, family commitments, social interactions, or overall well-being.

Despite Surjewala's determined efforts to move an amendment aimed at preserving the existing nine-hour daily limit—which received support from fellow Congress legislators but was ultimately rejected by the House through a voice vote—the bill successfully passed and brings Haryana's labour regulations in line with similar provisions already implemented in several other states including Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha, forming part of a broader package of eight bills approved on the concluding day of the Winter session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.

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