The Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) is an act of

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...

which was established to ensure the delivery of certain services, which if obstructed would affect the normal life of the people. This include services like public transport (bus services), health services (doctors and hospitals). The ESMA is a law made by the

under List No. 33 in

Concurrent List The Concurrent List or List-III (Seventh Schedule) is a list of 52 items (though the last subject is numbered 47) given in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. It includes the power to be considered by both the union and state gove ...

of 7th Schedule of

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

. Hence it maintains national uniformity by providing minimum conditions of essential services across the nation. For any violations in specific regions,

State governments State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

alone or together with other state government can enforce their respective act. Each state has a separate state ''Essential Services Maintenance Act'' with slight variations from the central law in its provisions. Hence, in case the nature of strike disrupts only a state or states, then the states can invoke it. In case of disruption on a national scale, especially railways, the ESMA 1968 can be invoked by central government. Although it is a very powerful law, which has potential to suppress genuine demands of employees, its execution rests entirely on the discretion of the

State government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

in normal circumstances. The law has seen little use in India, with many strikes by public transport providers or staff, doctors or Government employees, being continued for weeks without ESMA being invoked by the Union Government or the State Government. There have been instances of citizens approaching courts for implementation of ESMA, and the executive being forced by court orders to declare ESMA over a strike and the strikes being called off overnight.WordPress AndhraNewsHeadlines.
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History

The 1968 Act had a

sunset provision In public policy, a sunset provision or sunset clause is a measure within a statute, regulation, or other law that provides for the law to cease to be effective after a specified date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend it. Unli ...

of 3 years as per section 1(3) of the Act. Accordingly, the Act expired on 28 December 1971. Subsequently, the Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1981 was enacted, with a sunset provision of 4 years, which was extended to 9 years by the 1985 amendment. Accordingly, the 1981 Act expired on 23 September 1990.

State Laws

Andhra Pradesh

The law in effect is the ''Andhra Pradesh Essential Services Maintenance Act'' of 1971.

Kerala

The Kerala Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1994. This is the law in effect in the state of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

since 1994. As is the general rule, it has slight variations in the provisions of the law from the central act. What existed before this act was the ''Kerala Essential Services Maintenance Ordinance'' of 1993.

Rajasthan

In Rajasthan this law is known as RESMA (Rajasthan Essential Services Maintenance Act),(1970)

Karnataka

The

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as GoK or GoKA, formerly known as Government of Mysore (1956–1974), is a democratically elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka ...

enacted ''Karnataka Essential Services Maintenance Act'' in 1994 and was in force since 16 April 1994. The life of the act was ten years as per section 1(3) and it lapsed on 15 April 2004. The Government of Karnataka has threatened to invoke the act multiple times since then, even though the act had lapsed in 2004. However, the state has the power to impose the central law without modification unless it enacts a new law suitable for it. The Government of Karnataka has planned to reintroduce ESMA with Karnataka Essential Services Maintenance Bill, 2013 which will be tabled in the winter session of the legislature. Esma has been re-introduced in Karnataka effective from 09/06/2015 as per the gazette notification on 28 May 2015. The term now extends to one year from commencement of the Act and can be extended for six more months.

Maharashtra

Uttar Pradesh

The state has ''Uttar Pradesh Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1966'' (U.P. Act 30 of 1966), which was amended in 1982 and 1983. This Act does not have any

, and gets imposed from time to time, under section 3(1) of the Act, for six months at a time. It was recently imposed on 22 May 2020, 25 November 2020, 25 May 2021 and 16 February 2024.

Notes

DTC drivers' strike: Delhi government imposes ESMA Delhi govt imposes ESMA on doctors on strike. Step was taken as the doctors continued there strike even after government agreed to all their demands. Doctors call off strike hours after AAP govt imposes ESMA.

References

{{Reflist Acts of the Parliament of India 1968