(1)No person employed in any service, or being employed in connection with the working of any system of public conservancy or sanitation or water supply or hospitals or dispensaries or electric supply or public transport services or such other essential services under a Board in any cantonment area, shall, in the absence of any contract, resign without reasonable cause or absent himself from duty without proper authority and in case of such resignation or absence from duty he shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to one month; and the conditions of service specified herein shall, invariably be mentioned in the appointment letter of the persons employed to said services.
     (2) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that on and from such date as may be specified in the notification, the provisions of this section shall apply in the case of any specified class of employees employed by a Board whose functions intimately concern the public health or safety.