IMPACT OF COVID ON ESMA

COVID-19 has breathed life into the antiquated laws of India. One such law is the Essential Services Maintenance
Act (ESMA), 1968. It is an act to provide for the maintenance of certain essential services and the normal life of the
community. It empowers the government to prevent disruption in essential services such as transportation (by land,
water or air), electricity supply, police, defence, operation of petrol pumps. It is used to contain strikes that may hit an
essential service thereby causing public hardship.

In wake of the COVID-19 outbreak the country has gone into an unprecedented state of lockdown. Following which
the Union Cabinet Secretary on 11 March, 2020 announced all the States and Union Territories to invoke Section 2 of
the Epidemic Act, 1897. According to Section 2 the State governments and UTs are empowered to take special
measures and prescribe regulations as to dangerous epidemic disease. Following this, the State Governments have
invoked ESMA in the respective states in order to minimize human-to-human contact and break the virus contagion’s
chain. The government has restricted the movement of people to essential services only. Thus, on 24 March, 2020 the
Ministry of Home Affairs issued guidelines as to what shall constitute essential services during the 21-day lockdown
period. Pertaining to the current state of affairs the ESMA read with the aforementioned order from the Ministry of
Home Affairs are guiding us to understand what constitutes essential services in the country. Disobedience of the
orders stated the offender shall be subjected to punishment according to Section 188 of IPC and/or Section 4, Section
5, Section 6 of the ESMA. Considering the current situation, invocation of ESMA is an imperative to ensure a steady
supply and maintenance of essential services like any system of public conservancy, sanitation or water supply,
hospitals or dispensaries which are indispensable during a health crisis. Further, in order to maintain the normalcy of
life of the community during the lockdown services like food and electricity supply are vital. It is surprising that a law
introduced more than half a century ago is still relevant to use as an aiding tool for battling the modern disease of
COVID-19.

The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 under which the states have been empowered to take special measures and
prescribe regulations like ESMA against COVID, proves to be an inefficient tool in battling the public health crisis. It
prima facie decentralizes the power and requires the Central government to rely on State governments for adoption of
necessary acts like the ESMA, the Essential commodities act, The Indian Ports Act and so on. Thus, the law
provides fragmented power to the central government obstructing it from enacting policies that are necessary for
immediate action. Hence, a centralized response especially in case of a pandemic is imperative to expedite the
implementation of necessary measures uniformly across the country. 

ESMA despite being a law of the 20 th century is a pillar in fighting against the modern disease. However, a more
centralized response will be helpful in binding the actions of the State governments in containing the pandemic. There
is a need to empower the central government to override the decisions of state governments during medical
emergencies to ensure optimal outcomes in a health crisis. Therefore, it is imperative that the failures that have
 IMPACT OF COVID ON ESMA

characterized India’s response to COVID-19 forces policymakers to re-evaluate existing legal provisions to efficiently
contain the spread of the on-going crisis and be better prepared for any such future outbreaks.