Bihar Repeals Shops and Establishments Act

Bihar has repealed the Bihar Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2025 (Bihar Act 09 of 2025). The repeal was effected through the Bihar Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) (Repeal) Ordinance, 2026 (Bihar Ordinance No. 01 of 2026), promulgated by the Governor on 28 May 2026 and published in the Bihar Gazette (Extraordinary) dated 1 June 2026. The ordinance takes effect at once.

As an ordinance issued under Article 213(1) of the Constitution, it was promulgated while the State Legislature was not in session. Like all ordinances, it is a temporary instrument that must be placed before the legislature and will lapse unless it is converted into an Act within the constitutional time limit.

Why Bihar repealed the Act

The 2025 Act had been enacted to consolidate and update the state’s rules on the employment and conditions of service of workers in shops and commercial establishments. The repeal ordinance gives two reasons for withdrawing it:

Overlap with the central labour code. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 — one of the four central labour codes — was brought into force by the Central Government with effect from 21 November 2025. The state government notes that its 2025 Act and the OSH Code carry similar provisions, leaving establishments subject to two overlapping sets of requirements covering much the same ground.

The push for industrial investment. The ordinance states that Bihar wants to create fresh opportunities for industrial investment and accelerate economic activity, and that the coexistence of duplicate provisions across enactments works against that aim. Removing the state law leaves a single, central framework in place.

The savings clause

The repeal is not fully retrospective. Anything already underway is preserved: any proceedings instituted under the repealed Act will continue as though the Act had not been repealed. In practice, matters already initiated under the 2025 law are not undone by its withdrawal.

What it means for employers in Bihar

For shops and commercial establishments operating in the state, the practical effect is consolidation. With the state-specific 2025 Act gone and the OSH Code in force, the central code becomes the reference point for the employment and working-condition matters the repealed law would have governed. Businesses that had begun aligning their obligations to the 2025 Act will want to re-anchor their compliance to the OSH Code, 2020 and its rules, and to watch for the replacement legislation that an ordinance of this kind typically requires.

Please find attached the official notification below:

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