Act 036 of 2007 : Apprentices (Amendment) Act, 2007

Preamble

Apprentices (Amendment) Act, 20071

[Act 36 of 2007, Repealed by Act 23 of 2016*][19th September, 2007]

An Act further to amend the Apprentices Act, 1961

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-

1 Received the assent of the President on 19-9-2007 and published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section 1, dated 20-9-2007, pp. 1-2, No. 44.

* Ed.: Act 36 of 2007 repealed by Act 23 of 2016, S. 2 & Sch. I. See also S. 4 of the Repealing and Amending Act, 2016:

"4. Savings.- The repeal by this Act of any enactment shall not affect any other enactment in which the repealed enactment has been applied, incorporated or referred to;

and this Act shall not affect the validity, invalidity, effect or consequences of anything already done or suffered, or any right, title, obligation or liability already acquired, accrued or incurred, or any remedy or proceeding in respect thereof, or any release or discharge of or from any debt, penalty, obligation, liability, claim or demand, or any indemnity already granted, or the proof of any past act or thing;

nor shall this Act affect any principle or rule of law, or established jurisdiction, form or course of pleading, practice or procedure, or existing usage, custom, privilege, restriction, exemption, office or appointment, notwithstanding that the same respectively may have been in any manner affirmed or recognised or derived by, in or from any enactment hereby repealed;

nor shall the repeal by this Act of any enactment revive or restore any jurisdiction, office, custom, liability, right, title, privilege, restriction, exemption, usage, practice, procedure or other matter or thing not now existing or in force."

SOR Statement of Objects and Reasons

Prefatory Note-Statement of Objects and Reasons.-The Apprentices Act, 1961 provides for regulation and control of training of apprentices. Section 3-A of the Act makes provisions for reservation of training places for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but there is no provision for reservation of training places for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The Apprentices (Amendment) Bill, 2006 seeks to provide reservation for the OBCs in apprenticeship training.

2. Secondly, as per second proviso of sub-section (3) of Section 8, the flexibility up to twenty per cent, in the matter of engagement of apprentices in a trade, is presently available, provided that over all quota fixed for an establishment remains the same. There is need to amend Section 8 in order to provide flexibility up to fifty per cent in the matter of engagement of apprentices in a trade, provided that over all quota fixed for the establishment remains the same.

3. Thirdly, sub-section (1) of Section 10 provides that a trade apprentice who is undergoing practical training in an establishment shall, during the period of practical training, be given a course of related instruction which shall be appropriate to the trade approved by the Central Government in consultation with the Central Apprenticeship Council, with a view to giving the trade apprentice such theoretical knowledge as he needs in order to become fully qualified as a skilled craftsman. Sub-section (2) of the said section provides that related instruction shall be imparted at the cost of appropriate Government but the employer shall, when so required, afford all facilities for imparting such instruction. The reimbursement of related instruction to the establishments by the appropriate Government involves a lot of paper work, which could be avoided if the expenditure on related instruction is also borne by the establishment as in case of stipend. It is, therefore, proposed to amend Section 10 to impart related instruction at the cost of employer instead of appropriate Government.

The Bill seeks to achieve the above objectives.

Section 1. Short title and commencement

1. Short title and commencement.-(1) This Act may be called the Apprentices (Amendment) Act, 2007.

(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

Section 2. Insertion of new Section 3-B

2. Insertion of new Section 3-B.-In the Apprentices Act, 1961 (52 of 1961) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), after Section 3-A, the following section shall be inserted, namely:-

"3-B. Reservation of training places for Other Backward Classes in designated trades.-(1) In every designated trade, training places shall be reserved by the employer for the Other Backward Classes and where there is more than one designated trade in an establishment, such training places shall be reserved also on the basis of the total number of apprentices in all the designated trades in such establishment.

(2) The number of training places to be reserved for the Other Backward Classes under sub-section (1) shall be such as may be prescribed, having regard to the population of the Other Backward Classes in the State concerned.".

Section 3. Amendment of Section 8

3. Amendment of Section 8.-In Section 8 of the principal Act, in sub-section (3), for the second proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely:-

"Provided further that the Apprenticeship Adviser may, on a representation made to him by an employer and keeping in view the more realistic employment potential, training facilities and other relevant factors, permit him to engage such number of apprentices for a designated trade as is lesser than the number arrived at by the ratio for that trade, not being lesser than fifty per cent of the number so arrived at, subject to the condition that the employer shall engage apprentices in other trades in excess in number equivalent to such shortfall.".

Section 4. Amendment of Section 10

4. Amendment of Section 10.-In Section 10 of the principal Act, for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:-

"(2) Related instruction shall be imparted at the cost of employer and the employer shall, when so required, afford all facilities for imparting such instruction.".

SECTIONS