National Lockdown : MHA Allows Registered Shops Selling Non-Essential Goods To Open From Saturday [Read Order]

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order on Friday night permitting shops selling non-essential goods to open from Saturday onwards.

Shops selling essential goods were already exempted as per the original lockdown notification issued on March 24.

The permission is applicable to shops in market complexes within the limits of municipal corporations and municipalities. But relaxations are not applicable in Hotspots/containment zones.

The Ministry later clarified that the relaxation is not applicable to restaurants, salons and barber shops, and also to liquor shops. E-commerce operations for non-essential goods will also remain suspended.

On April 15, the MHA had issued a fresh set of guidelines with respect to the lockdown period extended till May 3, which had a list of permissible activities.

The order modifies the April 15 order to state ""all shops, including neighbourhood shops and standalone shops, shops in residential complexes, within the limits of municipal corporations and municipalities, registered under the Shops and Establishment Act of the respective State and UT" will be allowed to open during the lockdown.

The order clarifies that it is not applicable to shopping complexes and malls but only to local shops registered with the municipal corporation. "In Sub-clause 1 (x), the term 'shopping complexes' is replaced with 'market complexes within the limits of municipal corporations and municipalities," reads the order.

The order makes inclusions in sub-clause (xiii) and (xiv) under Clause 14 of the April 15 notification on commercial and private establishments to include all shops registered under the Shops and Establishment Act of the respective states and union territories. This is inclusive of shops in residential complexes and market complexes.

But shops in multi-brand and single-brand malls, are excluded.

The shops can function only with 50 per cent strength of workers with wearing of masks and social distancing being mandatory.