Nagaland
Draft · 4 June 2026
Not in force yet
What are Nagaland's rules under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020?
Jurisdiction: Nagaland state rules under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020.
Nagaland published the draft Nagaland Code on Industrial Relations Rules, 2026 in the Nagaland Gazette Extraordinary on 4 June 2026 under Section 99 of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, inviting objections before they are taken into consideration. The draft governs works committees, grievance redressal, trade unions, standing orders, notice of change, arbitration, tribunals, strikes, retrenchment, closure, the worker re-skilling fund and compounding. This page synthesizes those provisions; the verbatim rule-by-rule text is on the linked /states page and the source PDF is available below.
Enabling: Industrial Relations Code, 2020
Draft rules: not yet in force
These rules were published for public consultation and have not been finally notified in the Official Gazette. Provisions may change before final notification; verify against the source PDF before relying on them.
Key facts
- Parent code
- Industrial Relations Code, 2020
- Jurisdiction
- Nagaland (state rules)
- Published
- 4 June 2026
- Gazette reference
- Notification NO.LAB/DRAFT/LC/1/26/2025-26/196, dated Kohima the 4th June 2026, Government of Nagaland, Office of the Labour Commissioner, published in draft under Section 99 of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 as required by Section 99(1) for public objection, in the Nagaland Gazette Extraordinary (Registration No. NE/RN-646) dated 4 June 2026
Nagaland Industrial Relations Rules
Key obligations
Scope, commencement and draft status
Source: Rules 1 to 3 and the notification header (Chapter I)
The rules are titled the Nagaland Code on Industrial Relations Rules, 2026 and were published in draft for public objection before they take effect.
- These rules may be called the Nagaland Code on Industrial Relations Rules, 2026, extend to the whole State of Nagaland, and come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette (rule 1).
- As published they are draft rules: the notification states that the State Government proposes to make them and that the draft is published for information of all persons likely to be affected as required by Section 99(1); the cover notification gives a forty-five-day objection window while the rules' own preamble names a thirty-day window, and the parsed source carries both figures rather than reconciling them (notification header).
- On coming into force the rules will repeal the Nagaland Trade Unions Regulations, 1980, the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Nagaland Rules, 1978 and the Nagaland Industrial Disputes Rules, 1979 (notification header).
- A settlement reached before the Conciliation Officer under Section 2(zi) is recorded in Form-I and signed by the parties (rule 3).
Works committees and grievance redressal
Source: Rules 4 to 7 (Chapter II)
The draft sets the constitution, elections and working of the Works Committee and the Grievance Redressal Committee.
- A Works Committee is constituted so its total membership does not exceed twenty and the number of worker representatives is not less than that of the employer, with adequate representation of women workers; worker representatives are nominated by the negotiating union or council or, where none exists, elected by the workers, and voter eligibility is set at eighteen years of age with six months of continuous service while candidate eligibility is nineteen years with one year of service (rule 4).
- Works Committee office-bearers include a Chairman nominated by the employer and a Vice-Chairman elected by the worker members, the term of office is three years, the Committee meets at least once in three months, and a member absent from three consecutive meetings without leave forfeits membership (rule 4).
- A Grievance Redressal Committee has an equal number of employer and worker representatives not exceeding ten in total, with women workers represented in proportion to their share of the workforce, and its tenure is three years (rule 5).
- An aggrieved worker may file a grievance with the Committee giving the prescribed particulars (rule 6), and a worker aggrieved by the Committee's decision, or whose grievance is not resolved within thirty days, may apply to the conciliation officer through the trade union within sixty days (rule 7).
Trade unions: subscriptions, registration, negotiation and State recognition
Source: Rules 8 to 29 (Chapter III)
The draft governs trade-union subscriptions and funds, registration, recognition of the negotiating union or council, amalgamation, annual returns and State-level recognition.
- The minimum trade-union subscription is not less than one hundred rupees per annum, collected at the registered office, and membership is voluntary; union funds are deposited in a scheduled bank with two per cent kept at the disposal of the President, Secretary and cashier for routine exigencies, and the annual audit is conducted by a Chartered Accountant, or by any two members where membership did not exceed 250 during the financial year (rules 8 to 9).
- An application for registration is made in Form-V with the No Objection Certificate of the District Deputy Commissioner and a registration fee of rupees 1,000, the certificate of registration is issued in Form-VI, changes in particulars are intimated to the Registrar within thirty days, and the fee for registration of an alteration of the union's name is rupees 200 (rules 12 to 14 and rule 26).
- Where there is only one registered union having thirty per cent or more of the workers of an establishment as members, that union is the sole negotiating union; verification of membership for a negotiating council is by secret ballot conducted by a State-appointed verification officer, and recognition is valid for three years, extendable up to five years in total (rules 15 to 19).
- An establishment with a negotiating union or council provides listed facilities including a notice board, meeting venue, subscription deduction on written consent and, where the establishment has three hundred or more workers, office accommodation (rule 20).
- The general funds of a union may be spent only on the listed objects, and a separate fund for civic and political purposes may be constituted from separate contributions that no member is compelled to make (rules 21 to 22).
- Amalgamation of unions requires at least one-half of the members of each union to vote and sixty per cent of votes recorded to favour it (rule 25); the annual return is filed with the Registrar in Form-VIII by 31 March each year and a union that fails to file for two consecutive years is deemed cancelled (rule 28); and the State Government may recognize a State trade union with a combined verified membership of twenty-five thousand or more present in at least four types of industries, verified through Aadhaar (rule 29).
Standing orders
Source: Rules 30 to 38 (Chapter IV)
The draft covers adoption of model standing orders, certification, appeals, the register and modification.
- An employer adopting the Central Government model standing order intimates the certifying officer electronically of the date of adoption, and if the certifying officer makes no observation within thirty days the standing order is deemed adopted (rule 30).
- Where there is no trade union the certifying officer calls a meeting of workers to choose three representatives and forwards the draft for objections within fifteen days (rule 31), and certified standing orders are authenticated and sent electronically within a week (rule 32).
- A group of employers in similar establishments may submit a joint draft standing order to the Additional Labour Commissioner, Nagaland for certification (rule 34), and an appeal against the certifying officer's order is filed as a tabular memorandum with the appellate authority disposing of it after hearing the parties (rule 35).
- The certified text is maintained by the employer in Hindi, English or the language understood by the majority of workers and displayed at the entrance (rule 36), the certifying officer keeps an electronic register of all certified and deemed-certified standing orders and supplies copies at two rupees per page (rule 37), and modification applications are made electronically in tabular form (rule 38).
Notice of change and voluntary arbitration
Source: Rules 39 to 42 (Chapters V and VI)
The draft sets the notice of change on Third Schedule matters and the voluntary reference of disputes to arbitration.
- An employer intending to change conditions of service on a matter in the Third Schedule to the Code gives notice in Form-IX to the affected worker, uploads it on the establishment portal and displays it at the main entrance and the manager's office, with a copy to the secretary of any registered trade union (rule 39).
- A voluntary arbitration agreement is in Form-X signed by the parties and accompanied by the arbitrator's consent (rule 40); where the reference represents the majority of each party the State Government publishes a notification so non-parties may present their case (rule 41), and where there is no trade union workers choose their representative by resolution in Form-XI (rule 42).
Tribunal, conciliation and dispute resolution
Source: Rules 43 to 45 (Chapter VII)
The draft sets the service conditions of Tribunal members and the powers and procedure of the conciliation officer and Tribunal.
- The terms and conditions of service of the Judicial Member and the Administrative Member of the Industrial Tribunal are set out, including the oath of office (rule 43).
- A conciliation officer and the Tribunal have the powers of a civil court in respect of the matters listed in the rule (rule 44).
- Conciliation proceedings are held on receipt of an application and the conciliation officer submits a full report, following which the statement-of-claim, written-statement, evidence, argument and award procedure set out in the rule applies before the Tribunal (rule 45).
Strikes, lock-outs, lay-off, retrenchment and closure
Source: Rules 46 to 57 (Chapters VIII to X)
The draft sets the notices and permission applications for strikes, lock-outs, retrenchment, closure and lay-off.
- A strike notice is given to the employer in Form-XIV signed by the Secretary or, where there is no registered union, by five elected worker representatives, and a lock-out notice by the employer in Form-XV to each registered union, each copied to the conciliation officer and the Labour Commissioner, and on receiving a strike or giving a lock-out notice the employer intimates those officers within five days (rules 46 to 47).
- Retrenchment of a worker with at least one year of continuous service requires notice in Form-XVI to the State Government, the Labour Commissioner and the jurisdictional officer, generally within three days of the worker's notice (rule 48); retrenched workers get preference in re-employment for one year with vacancies displayed at least fifteen days in advance (rule 49); and intended closure requires notice in Form-XVI to the State Government with a copy to the Labour Commissioner and the registered unions (rule 50).
- For establishments to which the special provisions apply, prior permission for lay-off, retrenchment or closure is sought from the State Government in Form-XVII, with copies served on workers and displayed at the main entrance; the State Government may review its permission order on application made within thirty days, disposing of the review within two months (rules 51 to 57).
Worker re-skilling fund, offences, compounding and protected workers
Source: Rules 58 to 70 (Chapters XI to XIII)
The draft sets the re-skilling contribution, the enquiry into offences, the compounding of offences and the recognition of protected workers.
- The re-skilling fund may receive contributions from the State Government, corporate bodies as Corporate Social Responsibility, individuals and other notified sources (rule 58), and on retrenching a worker the employer transfers, within ten days, an amount equal to fifteen days of the worker's last drawn wages to the account maintained by the Labour Commissioner, who credits it to the worker within forty-five days for re-skilling (rule 59).
- An enquiry into the specified offences is held by an officer not below the rank of Under Secretary to the Government of India or equivalent, who may proceed ex-parte on default and may refuse a complaint filed beyond six months from the date of the offence (rule 60), and witnesses before a Tribunal or arbitral tribunal are paid civil-court witness allowances (rule 61).
- A compounding officer notified under Section 89 issues a three-part notice in Form-XVIII specifying the compounding amount; the accused may pay within fifteen days, and where prosecution has begun the offence may be compounded with the court's permission, after which the court discharges the accused and closes the prosecution (rule 62).
- Every registered trade union communicates the names of officers to be recognized as protected workers (rule 63), a worker's complaint under Section 91 is made in the prescribed form (rule 64), a worker or employer who is not a member of a union or association may be authorized to be represented (rules 65 to 66), copies of the forms are shared with the Director General, Labour Bureau (rule 67), and the rules provide for service by publication, appointment of a Commissioner and the Commissioner's fees (rules 68 to 70).
Frequently asked questions
Official gazette PDF
Notification NO.LAB/DRAFT/LC/1/26/2025-26/196, dated Kohima the 4th June 2026, Government of Nagaland, Office of the Labour Commissioner, published in draft under Section 99 of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 as required by Section 99(1) for public objection, in the Nagaland Gazette Extraordinary (Registration No. NE/RN-646) dated 4 June 2026