Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government has declared the operation, management, maintenance and support of data centres across the state as an “Essential Service” under the provisions of the Gujarat Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1972 (ESMA).

The decision was notified by the Department of Science and Technology in a Gazette published on February 19, 2026. The notification, issued from Sachivalaya on February 17, states that the government is of the opinion that data centres host and support critical government services, financial systems, healthcare platforms and communication networks.

The government noted that any disruption in the functioning of data centres would adversely affect the maintenance of public services and services essential to the life of the community, resulting in grave hardship to the public.

Invoking powers under sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 2 of the Gujarat Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1972 (Gujarat Act 23 of 1972), the state government has formally declared that all activities related to data centres operating within Gujarat will be treated as essential services for the purposes of the Act.

With this declaration, employees and operations linked to data centres will fall under the purview of ESMA, which empowers the government to ensure continuity of essential services and take necessary action in case of disruption.

Notably, services such as public health (hospitals), sanitation, water supply, electricity and transport (rail/road) are among other essential services. DeshGujarat