Central government owes West Bengal Rs 2,764 crore in wages for MGNREGA workers
The Calcutta High Court has directed the central and state governments to identify the workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and ensure payments.
In an order delivered by a division bench comprising Chief Justice TS Sivagnaman and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya June 6, 2023, the court asked the central and state governments to “separate chaff from the grain”.
The court was hearing the case against the writ petition filed by the Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samiti (PBKMS), an organisation that works for the welfare of agricultural labourers.
The court stated that “if in the opinion of the central government there has been misappropriation of funds and the actual beneficiaries have not been benefited, as it is alleged by the petitioner in WPA (P) 555 of 2022 that job cards have been issued in the names of persons, who are not living in the villages and are even gainfully employed in private organisations and it is also alleged that dummy bank accounts have been opened to receive the payments for the fictitious job etc, the endeavour of the authority should be to separate the chaff from the grains”. It added:
If genuine persons have offered themselves for employment under the provisions of the Act of 2005 and they have satisfactorily completed the work, then it goes without saying that those employees and workmen are entitled for disbursement of wages in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the schemes framed thereunder.
The workers in West Bengal had approached the court after the central government stopped release of funds for the scheme in March 2022 and directed the state government to utilise its funds until a satisfactory action taken report is submitted to the Centre about the usage of funds.
The Centre had taken the step by revoking Section 27 of MGNREGA that allows the government to “order stoppage of release of funds to the scheme” in some circumstances. The central government has alleged corruption in the state.
Anuradha Talwar, convener of the PBKMS, said it is the first step towards paying the pending MGNREGA wages in the state.
“The court has asked the governments to identify the persons who have genuinely worked under the Act and pay them accordingly, regardless of the alleged corruption in the state,” she said.
During the hearing, the counsel of the central government asserted that according to the letter issued on March 9, 2022, it had directed the state government to freeze the funds.
However, the chief justice asked the state government to file an affidavit as to why they should not pay workers after March 9 and also asked the central government to file an affidavit on the status of payments before the stoppage of funds in March.
Talwar said that the total pending wages for the state is Rs 2,764 crore since December 16, 2021 over a period of 18 months, while the central government owes the state about Rs 1,554 crore till March 9, 2022.
During the hearing, the state government also told the court that it had sent four action taken reports to the central government, the latest on February 2, 2023 that had not received any reply.
On the contrary, the central government said the state government’s reply was unsatisfactory.
Regarding the alleged misappropriation of funds in the state, the court listed the matter for the month of July and the PBKMS appeal with it.
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The workers in West Bengal had approached the court after the central government stopped release of funds for MGNREGA in March 2022. Photo: iStock.png)
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