INDIAN LABOUR LAWS:-EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING

LAWS RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING

Apprentices Act, 1961

The Apprentices Act, 1961 (the Apprentice Act) provides for the regulation and control of training of apprentices to supplement the availability of trained technical employees for the industry and matters in connection thereto. It provides for qualification for being engaged as an apprentice, contract for apprenticeship, renewal of contract of apprenticeship, period for apprenticeship, termination of apprenticeship contract, obligation of employers and obligations of apprentices, payment to apprentices, health safety and welfare of apprenticeship, hours of work, overtime, leave and holidays and other conditions of working of apprentice.

The Apprentice Act requires employers to hire apprentices in certain designated trades, as notified by the Government. Accordingly, appointment of apprentices, according to the Apprentice Act, will be obligatory if the company falls under the notified industry.

The Government is considering amending the Apprentices Act, 1961, in consultation with all concerned Ministries. One of the proposed amendments relates to reserving 50% of direct recruitment posts for trained Trade, Graduate, Technician and Technician (Vocational) apprentices who have been trained under the Apprentices Act, 1961 in the same establishment.²

Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959

The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 (the Employment Exchange Act) provides for the compulsory notification of vacancies to employment exchanges by the employers. Section 4(1) of the Employment Exchange Act makes it obligatory on every establishment in the public sector to notify, before filling up any vacancy in any employment in that establishment, vacancies to such employment exchanges as may be prescribed.

Further, s 4(2) of the Employment Exchange Act provides that the appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, require that from such date as may be specified in the notification, the employer in every establishment in the private sector (ordinarily employing more than 25 employees) or every establishment pertaining to any class or category of establishments in the private sector shall, before filling up any vacancy in any employment in that establishment, notify vacancies to such employment exchanges as may be prescribed.