In Brief
Ram Gopal Dwivedi and others, trade apprentices in the power sector, challenged their termination after completing their three-year training under the Apprentices Act, 1961. The Labour Court sided with them, ordering reinstatement and 50% back wages. The High Court reversed this, relying on precedent. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court, holding that apprentices under the 1961 Act are not 'workers' entitled to industrial dispute protections and cannot claim retrenchment benefits when their training contract expires. The appeals were dismissed as the facts were identical to an earlier Supreme Court decision.
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