Strict interpretation of shop and commercial establishment definitions excludes a depot used only for storage and accounts.

The Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958 applies only where premises answer the statutory meaning of a shop or commercial establishment. A shop requires buying, selling, or service activity at the premises, while a commercial establishment requires trade or business carried on there with a direct and intimate connection to the premises. A depot used only as a storehouse and for maintaining accounts, from which goods were taken out for sale elsewhere, does not satisfy either definition. On a strict construction of this penal statute, mere storage and account-keeping without actual commercial dealing at the premises is insufficient, and the wider earlier interpretation was rejected.

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Issues: Whether the depot used by the salesman was a shop or commercial establishment within the meaning of the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958, so as to attract the charging provision.

Analysis: The Act applies only to premises answering the statutory definitions of a shop or a commercial establishment. A shop contemplates premises where buying or selling of goods, or rendering of services to customers, takes place at the premises itself. A commercial establishment requires premises where trade or business is carried on for profit in a manner having a direct and intimate connection with the premises. The depot in question was only a storehouse and place for keeping accounts, from which goods were taken out for sale elsewhere; no buying or selling or business dealing took place there. The Court held that mere storage of goods and maintenance of accounts, without actual commercial dealing at the premises, does not make the premises either a shop or a commercial establishment. The wider construction previously adopted in an earlier decision was rejected, and the penal nature of the statute supported a strict interpretation.

Conclusion: The depot was neither a shop nor a commercial establishment, and the conviction under Section 26 could not stand.

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