Published on: January 12, 2022

ESSENTIAL SERVICES MAINTENANCE ACT

ESSENTIAL SERVICES MAINTENANCE ACT

NEWS

Haryana government invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act after the Outdoor Patient Department services across the State were crippled due to a day-long strike by the doctors in support of their demands.

ESMA, 1968

  • Established to ensure the delivery of certain services, which if obstructed would affect the normal life of the people.
  • These include services like public transport (bus services), health services (doctors and hospitals).
  • Gives police right to arrest without a warrant anybody violating the Act’s provisions.
  • Implementation:
    • The ESMA is a law made by the Parliament of India under List No. 33 in Concurrent List of 7th Schedule of Constitution of India.
    • Although it is a very powerful law, its execution rests entirely on the discretion of the State government. Each state in the union of India, hence has a separate state Essential Services Maintenance Act with slight variations from the central law in its provisions. This freedom is accorded by the central law itself.