Hotels, restaurants in Delhi to soon be open 24 hours, seven days a week

Beginning the following week, over 300 businesses in the nation's capital, including KPOs and BPOs, will be able to conduct business around-the-clock. These businesses include hotels, restaurants, and eateries as well as online delivery services for food, medications, logistics, and other necessities.

The request to exempt 314 such petitions, some of which had been languishing since 2016, was granted by Delhi Lt. Governor V.K. Saxena. The LG has ordered that this notice be released within seven days.

The judgement, which exempts businesses from Sections 14, 15, and 16 of the Delhi Shops & Establishment Act of 1954, is anticipated to increase employment and foster a good and advantageous business environment, as well as provide the city's much-desired nightlife a boost.

Commercial establishments are allowed to operate around-the-clock thanks to the exemptions provided by Sections 14, 15, and 16 of the aforementioned Act, subject to a few requirements relating to employee welfare, security, and other factors.

In approving the proposal, the Lt. Governor took a very serious stance and raised concerns about the Labour Department's excessive delay, adhocism, randomness, and unwarranted discretion in handling the applications submitted by establishments for these exemptions.

"Out of total of 346 pending applications, 18 applications of 2016, 26 applications of 2017, 83 applications of 2018, 25 applications of 2019, four applications of 2020 and 74 applications of 2021 had not been processed by the Labour Department on time. These applications were kept pending for no reason even as just two applications, one of 2017 and another of 2021 were processed and sent for approval, in a display of unexplained discretion on part of the Labour Department, which strongly indicated prevalence of corrupt practices," according to the L-G Secretariat official.

According to the official "it shows a complete unprofessional attitude and lack of due diligence on the part of the Labour Department and amounted to the Department having adopted a `pick and choose policy` in processing such applications. Such a system may also lead to corrupt practices. Further, inordinate delayed processing of such routine applications also negatively affects the confidence/sentiments of the business community at large", the L-G made a comment while approving the request.

The L-G further emphasised the fact that the Labour Department's implementation of a digital mechanism for application receipt required repeated observations and convincing from the L-G Secretariat. This, according to the L-G, demonstrated the Labour Department's resistance to implementing straightforward technology innovations that enhanced the legal environment for the "Ease of Doing Business."

According to the source, the L-G has firmly suggested that such applications be rejected within the allotted time frame in order to create a business environment that is favourable to investors and instils confidence in Delhi's entrepreneurs and business community as a whole.

The L-G has also given the Labour Department instructions to prevent similar delays in the future, build a structure for open and efficient monitoring, identify the causes of the delay, assign blame, and take appropriate measures against the at-fault authorities.

(With inputs from IANS)