Tripura
Draft · 20 January 2026
Not in force yet
What are Tripura's rules under the Code on Wages, 2019?
Jurisdiction: Tripura state rules under the Code on Wages, 2019.
Tripura published the draft Tripura Wages Rules, 2026 in the Tripura Gazette Extraordinary Issue on 20 January 2026 under Section 67 of the Code on Wages, 2019, inviting objections within 45 days. The draft fixes the minimum-wage methodology, working hours and rest day, wage deduction and advance limits, the State Advisory Board, undisbursed dues, registers, wage slips 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: Code on Wages, 2019
·Synthesized from a 42-page gazette notificationDraft 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
- Code on Wages, 2019
- Jurisdiction
- Tripura (state rules)
- Published
- 20 January 2026
- Gazette reference
- Notification No.F.22(80)-LAB/ENF/CoW/2025, dated 17 January 2026, Government of Tripura, Labour Department, published in draft under Section 67 of the Code on Wages, 2019 for a 45-day objection period, in supersession of the Tripura Minimum Wages Rules, 1952 and the Tripura Payment of Wages (Procedure) Rules, 1960 among other instruments, in the Tripura Gazette Extraordinary Issue dated 20 January 2026
- Source gazette length
- 42 pages
Tripura Wages Rules
Key obligations
Scope, commencement and draft status
Source: Rules 1 to 2 and the notification header (Chapter I)
The rules are titled the Tripura Wages Rules, 2026 and were published in draft for public objection before they take effect.
- These rules may be called the Tripura Wages Rules, 2026, and come into force only after the date of their final publication in the Tripura Gazette (rule 1).
- As published they are draft rules: the notification states that the State Government proposes to make them, that they are notified as required by Sub-Section (1) of Section 67 of the Code on Wages, 2019, and that the draft will be taken into consideration after a period of forty-five days from the date the gazette copies are made available, during which objections and suggestions may be addressed to the Secretary, Labour (notification header).
- The rules are made in supersession of the Tripura Minimum Wages Rules, 1952 and the Tripura Payment of Wages (Procedure) Rules, 1960 among other instruments repealed under Section 69 of the Code, except as respects things done or omitted before supersession (notification header).
Minimum wages and working-hour norms
Source: Rules 3 to 11 (Chapter II)
The draft fixes how the minimum rate of wages is computed and sets the normal working day, rest day and night-shift rules.
- The minimum rate of wages is fixed on a day basis for a standard working-class family that includes a spouse and two children apart from the earning worker, treated as three adult consumption units, using a net intake of 2,700 calories per day per consumption unit, clothing of 66 metres of cloth per year, housing rent of 10 per cent of food and clothing expenditure, fuel, electricity and miscellaneous items of 20 per cent of the minimum wage, and children's education, medical, recreation and contingency costs of 25 per cent of the minimum wage; the daily rate is divided by eight for an hourly rate and multiplied by twenty-six for a monthly rate, and the note to the rule attributes the criteria to the Reptakos Brett judgment and the 15th Indian Labour Conference (rule 3).
- While fixing minimum rates the State Government takes into account geographical area and experience in the area of employment, and constitutes a technical committee chaired by the Labour Commissioner to advise on categorizing occupations into unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled, published as specified in Schedule A (rule 4; the parsed member list skips item (v)).
- The cost-of-living (dearness) allowance is to be computed once before 1 April and again before 1 October each year (rule 5).
- The normal working day is eight hours of work plus one or more rest intervals totalling not more than one hour, with the total spread-over capped at twelve hours; for a six-day working week the spread-over is capped at ten and a half hours a day with the seventh day a paid holiday, and no employee works more than five hours continuously before a rest interval of at least half an hour (rule 7).
- An employee is entitled to a weekly rest day, ordinarily Sunday, after a continuous period of not less than six days, with substitution allowed but capped so no employee works more than ten consecutive days without a rest day, and work on a rest day is paid at the overtime rate subject to the provisos in the rule (rule 8); shifts extending beyond midnight are dealt with under rule 9.
- For emergency, preparatory, intermittent or nature-dependent work the spread-over may reach sixteen hours with actual work capped at nine hours in a day (rule 10), and the longer wage period for minimum-rate purposes is the month (rule 11).
Payment of wages, deductions and advances
Source: Rules 12 to 19 (Chapter III)
The draft caps deductions and advance recovery and sets the procedure before deducting for damage or loss.
- Where authorized deductions in a wage period would exceed fifty per cent of an employee's wages, the excess is carried forward and recovered from succeeding wage periods in instalments, with recovery in any month still capped at fifty per cent of that month's wages (rule 12).
- The Chief Labour Officer or Labour Officer having jurisdiction is the authority for the purposes of Sub-Section (1) of Section 19, the notice of fines is exhibited conspicuously in the workplace with a copy to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator, and imposition of a fine requires prior written intimation and an opportunity of being heard to the employee and employer (rules 13 to 15).
- An employer making a deduction under the proviso to Sub-Section (2) of Section 20 must intimate the Inspector-cum-Facilitator within ten days with reasons, and the Inspector-cum-Facilitator examines the intimation and initiates action if it contravenes the Code (rule 16).
- Before deducting for damage or loss the employer must explain the loss to the employee personally and in writing, show how it is directly attributable to the employee's neglect or default, give the employee an opportunity to offer an explanation, and intimate any deduction within fifteen days (rule 17; the parsed clause list skips item (ii)).
- Recovery of advances of money given after employment begins, or of wages not yet earned, is made in instalments so that any or all instalments in a wage period do not exceed fifty per cent of the employee's wages in that period, recorded in the Form-I register (rule 18), and deductions for house-building or other approved loans follow the State Government's extant instructions (rule 19).
State Advisory Board and committees
Source: Rules 20 to 36 (Chapter IV)
The draft constitutes the State Advisory Board and governs its meetings, quorum, tenure and disqualifications.
- The Board consists of not less than eight persons representing employers and not less than ten representing employees, together with independent persons nominated by the State Government including a Chairperson from the rank of Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, Secretary or Special Secretary (Labour), the Labour Commissioner as Member Secretary, a former Industrial Tribunal presiding officer and two wages and labour professionals; independent members do not exceed one-third of the Board and one-third of the members are women (rule 20).
- The Chairperson may call meetings and must convene one within thirty days of a written requisition by at least one-half of the members, with at least fifteen days' notice in writing and by post (seven days for an emergent meeting) (rules 21 to 22).
- No business is transacted unless at least one-third of members and at least one employer and one employee representative are present; a meeting short of quorum is adjourned to within seven days and may then transact business regardless of numbers (rule 24), and business is decided by majority with the Chairperson holding a casting vote or, on the Chairperson's direction, by circulation supported by a two-thirds majority (rule 25).
- Members ordinarily hold office for two years, continuing until a successor is appointed, and hold office during the pleasure of the State Government; an outgoing member is eligible for re-nomination for not more than two terms (rules 30 and 33).
- A member who fails to attend three consecutive meetings without prior intimation to the Chairperson ceases to be a member (rule 35), and unsound mind, undischarged insolvency or conviction for an offence involving moral turpitude disqualifies a person from membership (rule 36).
Payment of dues, registers, wage slips and enforcement
Source: Rules 37 to 48 (Chapters V to VII)
The draft routes undisbursed dues to the Chief Labour Officer or Labour Officer and sets the registers, wage slips, inspection and compounding procedure.
- An employee makes a nomination in Form-I, and wages payable to a deceased or untraceable employee that cannot be paid to the nominee within three months are deposited with the Chief Labour Officer or Labour Officer, who disburses them to the nominee within two months of deposit (rule 37); wholly undisbursed dues are deposited before the fifteenth day after the six-month mark (rule 38), and amounts unclaimed for seven years are dealt with as the State Government directs (rule 39).
- A single application under Sub-Section (5) of Section 45 is filed in Form-II and an appeal under Section 49 in Form-IV, with no employer appeal admitted unless the claim amount is first deposited (rules 40 to 41).
- Fines and their realizations are recorded in the Form-VI register, deductions and their realizations in the Form-I register, the employee register in Form-VII and the attendance register cum muster roll in the attendance-register form, all electronically or otherwise, and wage slips are issued in Form-IX on or before payment of wages (rules 42 to 43; the parsed rule 42(3) prints Form-VII for both the employee register and the attendance register cum muster roll, an apparent slip for the muster-roll form).
- An enquiry into an offence under Section 53 is held by the notified officer on a complaint by an authorized officer, an aggrieved employee, a registered trade union or an Inspector-cum-Facilitator, following a summons, plea, evidence and cross-examination procedure (rule 44), and an accused person may apply in Form-X to compound an offence for a sum equal to fifty per cent of the maximum fine provided under the Code before the Gazetted Officer notified under Section 56 (rule 45).
- Where employees are engaged through a contractor, the proprietor of the establishment pays the contractor before the wage-payment date so wages are paid on time (rule 46); an inspection scheme is formulated by the Labour Commissioner with State Government approval, specifying a number for each Inspector-cum-Facilitator and establishment (rule 47), and the annual return is filed electronically in the form specified under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, with a copy to the Labour Bureau (rule 48).
Frequently asked questions
Official gazette PDF
Notification No.F.22(80)-LAB/ENF/CoW/2025, dated 17 January 2026, Government of Tripura, Labour Department, published in draft under Section 67 of the Code on Wages, 2019 for a 45-day objection period, in supersession of the Tripura Minimum Wages Rules, 1952 and the Tripura Payment of Wages (Procedure) Rules, 1960 among other instruments, in the Tripura Gazette Extraordinary Issue dated 20 January 2026