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Apprentices Act, 1961

Section 3A: Reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

Section 3A of the Apprentices Act, 1961 explained with current 2025-26 amendments, employer controls, evidence and connected Rules.

Law Hub L8Data reviewed on 17 July 2026India-first compliance

What section 3A does

Requires reservation of designated-trade training places for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Connected instrument: Rule 5 and Schedule IIA

Finin2min practical reading

  • Identify the apprentice category, trade, establishment jurisdiction and applicable portal before applying the provision.
  • Separate statutory apprenticeship from internships, probation, traineeships and ordinary employment.
  • Do not treat scheme reimbursement as a substitute for the employer’s underlying statutory obligations.
  • Preserve the contract, approvals, portal trail and training evidence as one auditable file.

Employer control and evidence pack

  • Executed/registered contract and portal acknowledgement
  • Training plan, attendance/work diary and supervisor records
  • Stipend bank/DBT evidence where relevant
  • Adviser approval, correspondence or order where the section requires it

Statutory text extract

Extracted from the bundled official/consolidated source. For sections amended in 2026, the current overlay above controls over older consolidated wording.

[3A. Reservation of training places for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in
designated trades.—(1) In every designated trade, training places shall be reserved by the employer for
the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes 4[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 Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
under sub-section (1) shall be such as may be prescribed, having regard to the population of the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the State concerned.
    Explanation.—In this section, the expressions “Scheduled Castes” and “Scheduled Tribes” shall have
the meanings as in clauses (24) and (25) of article 366 of the Constitution.]
     5

Compliance consequence

Failure should be tested against sections 30, 31 and 31A as in force from 22 June 2026, alongside contract termination/compensation consequences and any portal or scheme action.

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