P.B. SURESH KUMAR, J.

1. The decision of the Employees' Insurance Court, Palakkad in I.C. No. 40 of 2007 is under challenge in this appeal. The applicant in the proceedings is the appellant.

2. The applicant is a newspaper establishment covered under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 (the Act for short). As per notices dated 28.3.2007 and 29.5.2007, the employees of the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (the Corporation for short), claimed contributions payable by the applicant under the Act in respect of a few of its employees. It was alleged in the notices that among them, some are engaged as trainees by the applicant and the remaining are employees engaged by the contractor supplying food to the employees of the establishment. The applicant challenged the said notices before the Employees' Insurance Court contending that the persons engaged as trainees are apprentices engaged in accordance with the standing orders applicable to the establishment and, therefore, they are not liable to be covered under the Act. As far as the employees engaged by the food supply contractor are concerned, the contention was that the said employees are persons not engaged in any wo