Tengnoupal district had been carved out of Manipur Central district in 1974 under Manipur Gazette Extra Ordinary No.30 dated 11-05-74. The district contained 3 (three) sub-divisions viz., Chandel, Chakpikarong, and Tengnoupal till 3.1.1994. On 4.1.1994 another sub-division called Machi sub-division came into existence.Under the Extra Ordinary Manipur Gazette Notification No.174 August, 1983 the name of all the districts of Manipur had been changed and the nomenclatures took the name of all district headquarters of each district while naming the respective district and thereby the Tengnoupal district became Chandel district by virtue of Chandel being the district Head-quarters.
Under the Extra Ordinary Manipur Gazette Notification No.408 December 9, 2016 Tengnoupal District is created again by bifurcating from Chandel District with Sub-divisions Machi, Moreh and Tengnoupal under Tengnoupal District.