Section 53 of the Factories Act 1948 - Compensatory Holidays
Section 53 of the Factories Act, 1948 dealt with compensatory holidays where a worker lost a weekly holiday because a factory or its workers had been exempted from the weekly-holiday requirement. The provision is now mainly relevant for historical periods, saved matters, and understanding the source of the present rule.
- The old Section 53 protected a worker who lost a weekly holiday because of a statutory exemption.
- The worker was entitled to the same number of compensatory holidays as the weekly holidays lost.
- Those holidays had to be allowed in the month in which they became due or within the following two months.
- Under the current OSH Code, the same core protection appears in Section 26(3), while Section 26(1) generally prevents a worker from working for more than six days in a week.
Text of Section 53 of the Factories Act 1948
53. Compensatory holidays
(1) Where, as a result of the passing of an order or the making of a rule under the provisions of this Act exempting a factory or the workers therein from the provisions of section 52, a worker is deprived of any of the weekly holidays for which provision is made in sub-section (1) of that section, he shall be allowed, within the month in which the holidays were due to him or within the two months immediately following that month, compensatory holidays of equal number to the holidays so lost.
(2) The State Government may prescribe the manner in which the holidays for which provision is made in sub-section (1) shall be allowed.
Meaning and effect of the old Section 53
Section 53 did not create a general substitute for every weekly holiday. It operated when a worker was deprived of a weekly holiday because an exemption had been granted from Section 52 of the Factories Act. Once that condition was met, the provision required an equal number of compensatory holidays.
The time limit was also important. The compensatory holiday was to be allowed either during the month in which the weekly holiday was due or during the two months immediately following it. Sub-section (2) empowered the State Government to prescribe the manner in which such compensatory holidays were to be allowed.
Current provision - Section 26 of the OSH Code 2020
Section 26 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 is titled Weekly and compensatory holidays. It brings the weekly-holiday rule and the compensatory-holiday protection together in one section.
| Current provision | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Section 26(1) | A worker generally cannot be allowed to work in an establishment for more than six days in any one week, subject to the statutory proviso for motor transport undertakings. |
| Section 26(2) | The appropriate Government may exempt workers from the weekly-holiday rule by notification, subject to prescribed conditions. |
| Section 26(3) | If an exemption deprives a worker of a weekly holiday, an equal number of compensatory holidays must be allowed in the same month or within the following two months. |
The current provision therefore retains the central protection previously found in Section 53: a weekly holiday lost because of a lawful exemption is to be replaced by a compensatory holiday within the statutory period.
Repeal of the Factories Act 1948
The Central Government brought the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 into force with effect from 21 November 2025 through Notification S.O. 5321(E). Section 143 of the Code provides for repeal and savings and lists the Factories Act, 1948 among the enactments repealed from the commencement of the Code.
Accordingly, Section 53 should not be presented as the current source of the compensatory-holiday obligation after 21 November 2025. For present-day compliance, Section 26 of the OSH Code and the applicable rules, notifications, and State-specific requirements should be checked.
Official legal sources
For authoritative reference, see the Ministry of Labour and Employment copy of the Factories Act, 1948, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, and the Gazette notification bringing the OSH Code into force from 21 November 2025.
Note: This page is a general legal reference. For a specific factory, establishment, exemption, or employment dispute, the applicable Central or State rules and notifications should also be verified.