State-wise returns

Chandigarh

Shops & establishment registration

Deemed granted if not issued in twenty-four hours“If the registration certificate is not issued by the Inspector within a period of twenty-four hours from the date of receipt of application, the registration certificate shall be deemed to have been granted under this Act” The employer must apply within a period of six months form the date of commencement of his business. The Act prints “form” where “from” is plainly meant; it is quoted as printed.Section 13, as substituted by the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Punjab Act No. 12 of 2025)

Who must register

Establishments employing 20 or more workers“The provisions of this Act shall apply to the shops and establishments employing twenty or more workers, whereas to shops and establishments employing less than twenty workers only section 13-A shall be applicable” — so a smaller establishment is not outside the Act altogether, but only section 13-A reaches it.Section 1(4), as substituted by the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Punjab Act No. 12 of 2025)

Registration where the OSH Code already applies

ExemptThe Administration directed that all the establishments which falls within the definition of ‘establishment’ and are otherwise covered under the above said Act and are also required to be and are registered under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working conditions code, 2020 and the rule framed thereunder, shall be exempted from complying with the provisions of section 13 or under section 13A of the above said Act, in order to avoid duplicacy of registration process and to simplify the procedural compliances. The document carries two dates on its own face — “Dated, the 17.03.2026” in the signature block and 18-3-26 written at the head and on each endorsement. Both are shown as printed.No. 535694-HII(2)-2026/3143 of 17 March 2026

Building plan approval for a factory

Merged into the factory licence applicationThe Labour Commissioner merged the separate application of building plan approval with the factory licence application under the Factories Act, 1948 read with Punjab Factory Rules, 1952 as applicable to UT, Chandigarh with immediate effect, under the Deregulation 2.0 exercise (PA-06) and directions of the Deregulation Cell, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India. Applicants no longer file a separate application; the statutory scrutiny of building plans is unchanged. The order also dates the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (OSH) position: it is expressed to remain in force “till the notification of Chandigarh Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Rules, 2026”, so on its own face those rules had not been notified on 25 June 2026. The department separately lists draft Chandigarh rules under all four labour codes. Read against that, the exemption of 17 March 2026 from sections 13 and 13A reaches only establishments that are in fact registered under the Code and the rules framed under it; both documents are shown as they stand and nothing is inferred from the pair.LD/C-1/2026/OnlinePortal, I/108873/2026 of 25 June 2026

Contract labour registration and licensing

50 workmen, not the central 20The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) (Punjab Amendment) Act, 2020 (Punjab Act No. 13 of 2020) substitutes “fifty” for “twenty” in section 1(4), clauses (a), (b) and the proviso of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, and that Punjab Act was extended to the Union territory under section 87 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 (31 of 1966). Both the principal employer's registration and the contractor's licence therefore start at fifty here.S.O. 5188(E) of 14 November 2025, Ministry of Home Affairs, published in The Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II — Section 3 — Sub-section (ii), No. 5019 of 14 November 2025

Pay wages

By the 7th of the following monthCode on Wages, 2019 s.17

EPF contribution and ECR

By the 15th of the following monthEPF Scheme

ESIC contribution

By the 15th of the following monthESI regulations

EPF and ESIC

Monthly contributions and returns by the 15th of the following monthEPF Scheme; ESI regulations