Cabinet clears draft law with jail provision for calling strike illegally

Staff Reporter :
Keeping the provision of maximum one year in jail for calling illegal strikes in the essential service sectors including transport, fuel, telecommunication, information technology, e-commerce, electronic and digital services, the Cabinet on Monday gave its final approval to the draft of the ‘Essential Services Act, 2022’ promulgated newly merging two existing laws.
In the draft law, the postal and telecommunication, information technology, e-commerce, electronic and digital services were mentioned as essential services along with the transport and fuel sector.
The approval was given in the regular weekly Cabinet meeting held on Monday in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam briefed media at the Secretariat.
He said that the draft of the ‘Essential Services Act, 2022’ was prepared merging the two old laws – the Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1952 and the Essential Services (Second) Ordinance, 1958 to make the law more time befitting.
He said that of the 14 sections, the No-4 describes the services which the government will declare as essential services while another section deals with strikes, lockdowns or layoffs. The industries often go for layoffs or knock outs. If the government feels such an action is not justified, it can prevent the move.
Transportation of passengers or goods by land, water, rail and air will be considered as essential services,
he said, adding, “If someone stops the movement of buses or trucks by enforcing strikes or hartal illegally and illogically, actions can be taken. The draft law has provision of penalties for non-compliance.”
Anwarul said, “If someone commits an offense under the law, he will be imprisoned for six months and fined Tk 25,000. If anyone supports illegal strikes, he will be imprisoned for one year and fined up to Tk 50,000.”
Some of the essential services are mentioned in the proposed law such as postal and telecommunication, information technology, e-commerce, electronic and digital services, he said, further adding that the government thinks that these services cannot be stopped at any time without any valid reason.
“The digital financial services such as mobile financial services, power-gas-coal generation, supply and marketing are essential services. If any deadlock arises in these sectors, the government can intervene,” the Cabinet Secretary added.