#THE ESSENTIAL SERVICES MAINTENANCE (ASSAM) ACT, 1980 
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##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 

1. Short title and extent. 
2. Definitions. 
3. Power to prohibit strikes in certain employments. 
4. Dismissal of employees participating in illegal strikes. 
5. Penalty for illegal strikes. 
6. Penalty for instigation, etc. 
7. Penalty for giving financial aid to illegal strikes. 
8. Power to arrest without warrant. 
9. Offences to be tried summarily. 
10. Act to override other laws. 
11. Repeal and saving. 
 
 
 
#THE ESSENTIAL SERVICES MAINTENANCE (ASSAM) ACT, 1980 

##ACT NO. 41 OF 1980 

[19th July, 1980.] 

An  Act  to  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  certain  essential  services  and  the  normal  life  of  the 
community in Assam. 

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Thirty-first Year of the Republic of India as follows:— 

1. **Short title and extent.**—(1) This Act may be called the Essential Services Maintenance (Assam) Act, 1980. 

(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Assam. 

2. **Definitions.**— (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— 

  (b) “essential service” means— 

       (i) any  transport  services  for  the  carriage  of  passengers  or  goods,  by  land  or  water  with 
respect to which the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam has power to make laws; 

       (ii) any service connected with the production, storage, supply or distribution, as the case may 
be, of gas or water; 

       (iii) any  service  connected  with  the  maintenance  of  public  health  and  sanitation,  including 
hospitals and dispensaries; 

       (iv) any public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the State, and also persons 
appointed to the secretarial staff of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam; 

       (v) any other service or employment or class thereof, connected with matters with respect to 
which  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Assam  has  power  to  make  laws  and  which  the 
State  Government,  being  of  opinion  that  strikes  therein  would  prejudicially  affect  the 
maintenance of any public utility service, the public safety or the maintenance of the supplies and 
services necessary for the life of the community or would result in the infliction of grave hardship 
on the community, may, by notification in the official gazette, declare to be an essential service 
for the purpose of this Act; 

  (bb) ‘State Government’ means the State Government of Assam;

  (c) “strike” means the cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any essential service 
acting  in  combination  or  a  concerted  refusal  or  a  refusal  under  a  common  understanding  of  any 
number  of  persons  who  are  or  who  have  been  so  employed  to  continue  to  work  or  to  accept 
employment, and includes— 
                                                           
       (i) refusal  to  work  overtime  where  such  work  is  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  any 
essential service; 

       (ii) any  other  conduct  which  is  likely  to  result  in,  or  results  ill,  cessation  or  substantial 
retardation of work in any essential service. 

(2) Every notification issued under sub-clause (v) of clause (6) of sub-section (1) shall be laid 
before each House of Parliament immediately after it is made if it is in session and on the first day of the 
commencement of the next session of the House if it is not in session, and shall cease to operate at the 
expiration of forty days from the date of its being so laid or from the re-assembly of Parliament, as the 
case may be, unless before the expiration of that period a resolution approving the issue of the notification 
is passed by both Houses of Parliament. 

*Explanation.*— Where the Houses of Parliament are summoned to re- assemble on different dates, the 
period of forty days shall be reckoned from the later of those dates. 

(3) Any reference in this Act to any law which is not in force in any area of the State of Assam and to 
any  authority  under  such  law  shall,  in  relation  to  that  area,  be  construed  as  a  reference  to  the 
corresponding law in force in that area and to the corresponding authority under such corresponding law. 

3. **Power to prohibit strikes in certain employments.**— (1) If the State Government is satisfied 
that in the public interest it is necessary or expedient so to do, it may, by general or special Order, prohibit 
strikes in the State of Assam in any essential service specified in the Order. 

(2) An Order made under sub-section (1) shall be published in such manner  as  the State 
Government considers best calculated to bring it to the notice of the persons affected by the Order. 

(3) An  Order  made  under sub-section (1) shall be in force for six months only, but the State 
Government may, by a like Order, extend it for any period not exceeding six months if it is satisfied that 
in the public interest it is necessary or expedient so to do. 

(4) Upon the issue of an Order under sub-section (1), — 

  (a) no person employed in any essential service to which the Order relates shall go or remain on 
strike; 

  (b) any strike declared or commenced, whether before or after the issue of the Order, by persons 
employed in any such service shall be illegal. 

4. **Dismissal of employees participating in illegal strikes.**— Any person who commences a strike 
which is illegal under this Act, or goes or remains on, or otherwise takes part in, any such strike, shall be 
liable  to  disciplinary  action  (including  dismissal)  in  accordance  with  the  same  pro-visions  as  are 
applicable for the  purpose of  taking  such  disciplinary  action  (including  dismissal)  on  any  other  ground 
under the terms and conditions of service applicable to him in relation to his employment. 

5. **Penalty for illegal strikes.**— Any person who commences a strike which is illegal under this Act, 
or goes or remains on, or otherwise takes part in, any such strike shall be punishable with imprisonment 
for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or 
with both. 

6. **Penalty for instigation, etc.**—Any person who instigates or incites other persons to take part in, or 
otherwise  acts  in  furtherance  of,  a  strike  which  is  illegal  under  this  Act  shall  be  punishable  with 
imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to two thousand 
rupees, or with both. 

7. **Penalty for giving financial aid to illegal strikes.**—Any person who knowingly expends or 
supplies any money in furtherance or support of a strike which is illegal under this Act shall be punishable 
with  imprisonment  for  a  term  which  may  extend  to  one  year,  or  with  fine  which  may  extend  to  two 
thousand rupees, or with both. 

8. **Power to arrest without warrant.**— Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal 
Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), any police officer may arrest without warrant any person who is reasonably 
suspected of having committed any offence under this Act. 

9. **Offences to be tried summarily.**— Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal 
Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), all offences under this Act shall be tried in a summary way by a Judicial 
Magistrate  of  the  first  class  specially  empowered  in  this  behalf  by  the State Government and  the 
provisions of Sections 262 to 265 (both inclusive) of the said Code shall, as far as may be, apply to such 
trial: 

Provided that in a case of conviction for any offence in a summary trial under this section, it shall be 
lawful  for  the  Magistrate  to  pass  a  sentence  of  imprisonment  for  any  term  for  which  such  offence  is 
punishable under this Act. 

10. **Act to override other laws.**—The  provisions  of  this  Act  and  of  any  Order  issued  there  under 
shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Industrial Disputes Act, 
1947 (14 of 1947), or in any other law for the time being in force. 

11. **Repeal and saving.**—(1) The Essential Services Maintenance (Assam) Ordinance, 1980 (2 of 
1980), is hereby repealed. 

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said Ordinance shall be 
deemed to have been done or taken under this Act, as if this Act had come into force on the 6th day of 
April, 1980.