PUNJAB FAIR PRICE SHOPS (FACTORIES) ORDINANCE, 1971

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THE PUNJAB FAIR PRICE SHOPS (FACTORIES) 
ORDINANCE, 1971 
(XIII of 1971) 
CONTENTS 
1. Short title, extent and commencement 
2. Definitions 
3. Establishment of fair price shops 
4. Keeping of sufficient stocks 
5. Display of list of fair prices 
6. Monthly quota for a worker 
7. Purchase and Procurement of essential articles 
8. Sale of essential articles 
9. Purchase of articles on credit basis 
10. Constitution of Managing Committee 
11. Functions of the Managing Committee 
12. Appointment of Inspectors and Chief Inspector and their functions 
13. Penalty 
14. Cognizance and trial of offences 
15. Indemnity 
16. Exemption 
17. Power to make rules 
SCHEDULE 
TEXT 
1
THE PUNJAB FAIR PRICE SHOPS (FACTORIES) ORDINANCE, 1971 
(XIII of 1971) 
[3rd July, 1971] 
An 
Ordinance 
to provide for the establishment of fair price shops in certain factories in the Punjab. 
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 h im 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 ba rgaining 
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; 
                                                 
1This Ordinance was promulgated b y 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); and published in the Gazette of Pakistan 
(Extraordinary), Part I, dated 29.7.1975, pages 177-178. 
(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 em ployer 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 includ es 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 p rescribed 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 contract or, 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 suffici ent 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 Managin g 
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 whats oever 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 A ct, 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 ess ential 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 
2
[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
3
[;] 
4
[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.] 
                                                 
2Not printed in the Original Gazette. 
3Substituted the full stop with semi-colon, by the Punjab Fair Representation of Women Act 2014 (IV of 2014); and published in 
the Punjab Gazette (Extraordinary), dated 12.3.2014, pages 2733-2744, s.2 and Schedule, at serial No.8. 
(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 per son 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 comp ensation 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 articl es 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 
regularize transaction of business therein; and 
(e) to perform any function which the Government may, by a general or 
special order, deem fit to assign. 
                                                                                                                                                        
4Inserted by the Punjab Fair Representation of Women Act 2014 (IV of 2014) ; and published in the Punjab Ga zette 
(Extraordinary), dated 12.3.2014, pages 2733-2744, s.2 and Schedule, at serial No.8. 
(2) The provisions of clause (d) of sub -section (1) shall take effect 
notwithstanding anything to the co ntrary 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 t his 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 a nd 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 a ppoint a 
5
Chief Inspector for the Province or in any 
part thereof, who , in addition to his exclusive power s 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 fin e 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 pu nishment 
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. 
                                                 
5Punjab Govt. appointed certain officer of the Directorate of Labour Welfare Department as Chief Inspector. Inspectors for 
specified areas in supersession of all previous notification in this behalf; Noti. 8 -2 (L-II) 70 of 20 Nov. 1973, Punjab Govt. Gaz. 
Pt. I, Dec. 7, 1973, p. 1384. 
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 o f 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.