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The Calcutta High Court on June 18, 2025, directed the Centre to resume work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in West Bengal from August 1.
The court’s direction comes three years after the Union government halted employment of workers under MGNREGA in the state. The Centre stopped payment of wages for MGNREGA workers on December 21, 2021, and ultimately stopped issuing work permits from March 2022.
The decision is expected to benefit 25 million workers across West Bengal, said advocate Purbayan Chakraborty. He represents the trade union Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) that has highlighted the plight of MGNREGA workers in the state.
The funds were stopped after the central government cited alleged corruption in the scheme’s implementation under MGNREGA’s Section 27. The section empowers the Centre to stop payment of wages.
The high court’s directives were issued by a division bench comprising of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das). The bench was hearing the matter regarding the non-payment of dues to daily wage labourers under the scheme.
While workers’ pending wages were paid by the state government, the new directives will apply on fresh works, Chakraborty said.
Down To Earth accessed the Zoom recording of the hearing where the direction was given. While directing the implementation of the scheme, Sivagnanam remarked, “All these allegations are from before 2022. You do whatever you want but implement the scheme.”
Anuradha Talwar, convenor of the West Bengal wing of NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a coalition of organisations working with rural labourers, said the state was experiencing losses worth Rs 5,000 crore per year due to the non-implementation of the flagship scheme.
“Many people had started treating MGNREGA as if it was a dead scheme. The court order brings it to life again. It is the fruit of the struggle and hard work put in by PBKMS members to keep the issue and their demand alive,” Talwar said.
Chakraborty said the inquiry proceedings relating to past irregularities will continue on its own course.
The bench said, “The scheme of the act does not envisage a situation where it would be put to cold storage for eternity. The central government has sufficient means to enquire into the irregularity of the disbursement of wages. However, there can be a line drawn between past actions and future steps to be taken for implementation. This, in the opinion of this court, would be in the public interest and subserve the interest in which the Act was enacted. Therefore, while allowing the central government to proceed with their enquiry, this court directs that the scheme be implemented prospectively from August 1, 2025.”
Chakraborty said, “At its core, this case was about the fundamental right to livelihood for over 25 million registered MGNREGA workers in West Bengal. The court’s direction to resume MGNREGA is a crucial step toward restoring both dignity and survival for those who depend on this programme to make ends meet.”