HC orders Centre to restart MGNREGA in Bengal from Aug 1, TMC says state govt vindicated
Stating that no central scheme can be sent to cold storage forever, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to restart MGNREGA, the 100-day rural job guarantee scheme, in West Bengal prospectively from August 1.
The Division Bench of the High Court, led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam, allowed the Centre to impose special conditions, restrictions, and regulations — not imposed in other states — to ensure that no irregularity occurs when the scheme is being implemented in West Bengal.
The BJP-led government at the Centre had stopped the implementation of the scheme in West Bengal from March 9, 2022, alleging widespread irregularities and non-compliance of its directives by the state. The TMC government in the state, on the other hand, accused the Centre of withholding the MGNREGA dues for 'political reasons' and said that it has submitted 22 compliance reports to the Centre but to no avail.
The Division Bench, also comprising Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das), said: 'The scheme of the Act does not envisage a situation where the scheme would be put to cold storage for eternity… The Centre can impose any kind of conditions to prevent corruption… If the Center wants, it can send money directly to the account of a specific person through the central portal. The Centre can carry out necessary surveillance to prevent corruption. In addition, the Centre can continue investigations in all the districts of the state.'
The High Court's order came on a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) filed by an outfit of labourers called Paschim Banga Khet Mansoor Samity. The group sought the outstanding wages of workers settled with at least 0.05 per cent interest. BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, also filed an application demanding a CBI investigation into the alleged embezzlement of Central funds in the scheme's implementation in West Bengal.
Welcoming the High Court's order, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Centre must immediately release the arrears under MGNREGA scheme and other rural development projects before sending further inquiry teams to the state.
'We welcome the High Court judgment. Let them (Centre) restart the programme first. This is not their money, it's public money. It's our right to get it,' Banerjee said at a press conference at Nabanna.
'We did not even go to court; an individual organisation went. From the government's side, we will go for a review to demand the arrears. The Centre is sending teams to Bengal, but first, give us the due money. Not a single rupee has been released for the past few years. This is public money,' she said.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the High Court's order vindicated the state government's stand. 'The order vindicated our stand and our fight for the central funds. The Centre has been blocking Bengal government's dues illegally and in a discriminatory manner.
The High Court had on April 10 directed the central government to state why the MGNREGA scheme should not be prospectively implemented in West Bengal, leaving out four districts.
It has been stated that there are allegations of defalcation of funds with regard to four districts of Purba Bardhaman, Hooghly, Malda and Darjeeling (GTA area).
The Central government on Wednesday submitted its stand in the form of an affidavit on implementing the NREGA scheme prospectively in the state.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the court said: 'From beginning, in so many hearings, we are trying to make it clear whether the legal beneficiaries will get their wages. If there are 10 people who have genuinely done the work, what about them?'
To this, Additional Solicitor General Ashok Chakraborty, representing the Central government, said: 'Who is to assess whether these people have genuinely worked or not? Since there is factual proof of misappropriation of funds and unless we are satisfied with the State's action taken report, we cannot disburse funds.'
The Chief Justice then said: 'Whatever has happened has happened. Now, draw a line and make a beginning. Prospectively implement the scheme from August 1. Impose conditions. Parallelly proceed with your inquiry and recovery of misappropriated amounts.'
State Advocate General AG Kishore, representing the West Bengal government, said that nodal officers might not be required anymore for wage distribution as the Centre has come out with a new portal for the electronic disbursement of payments.
The matter will come up for further hearing after August 15.
Before the Centre had suspended the MGNREGS in West Bengal in March 2022, 75.97 lakh families had availed the scheme in the state in 2021-22. The number was even higher (79.65 lakh) during 2020-21, the year that saw the outbreak of Covid-19.
The last allocation, made in 2021-22, was for 27 crore labour days, out of which wages worth Rs 3,500 crore were withheld by the Centre. In the previous year, 2020-21, the allocation had been 41 crore labour days.
Responding to a starred question asked by TMC member Jawar Sircar, Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh on December 06, 2023, informed Rajya Sabha that a total amount of Rs 13,965.91 crore was pending as Central share for two schemes—MG-NREGS and PMAY-G.
The West Bengal government sources, however, say that the total dues of about Rs 18,000 crore are pending under three rural development schemes—MG-NRGES, PMAY-G, and PMGSY.
In January this year, West Bengal's Rural Development Minister Pradip K Mazumdar had written a letter to the Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, seeking an appointment for a meeting to urge the latter to release funds.
TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee had led two delegations of party MPs to Krishi Bhawan, seeking the release of funds to the states.
Recently, the Ministry of Rural Development had informed a parliamentary standing committee that the decision to release funds amounting to Rs 7,888.67 crore to West Bengal under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) during the current financial year (2024-25) is pending with 'competent authority'.
With inputs from ENS, New Delhi
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