S. H. RAZA, J.

( 1 ) THE petitioners, who by means of Annexure-1 to the writ petition, were appointed as apprentices for undergoing training for a period of three years as contained in Annexure-2, have invoked the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India against the alleged termination or retrenchment of their services after the expiry of the said period. Sri S. S. Rawat, counsel for the petitioners, contended that the petitioners were not appointed as apprentices in accordance with provisions contained in Apprentice Act, 1961, and they were workmen within the meaning of word workmen as defined in Section 2 (z) of the U. P. Industrial-Disputes Act which reads as under:

"workman means any person including an apprentice employed in any industry to do any skilled or unskilled manual, supervisory, technical or clerical work for hire or reward, whether the terms of employment be express or implied, and for the purposes of any proceeding under this Act in relation to an industrial dispute, includes any such person, who has been dismissed, discharged or retrenched in connection with, or as a consequence of, that dispute or whose dismissal, discharge or retr