People working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA ) in West Bengal have not been paid their wages for more than a year now with the Union government stopping the payment of funds alleging corruption at the state government level and  invoking Section 27 of the act. The last wage installment to MGNREGA workers in the state was disbursed on December 26, 2021. The Union government has since withheld the release of more than Rs 7,500 crore worth of MGNREGA funds to West Bengal. Of this, the workers’ pending wages amount to Rs 2,744 crore.

The political slugfest between BJP-led Union government and TMC-led state government has put nearly one crore rural people under precarious condition. Today, during a hearing of a case filed by Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity in the matter, the Calcutta High Court asked for genuine workers to be identified and wages to be paid to them.  The order of the court marked the first step towards payment of pending wages of MGNREGA workers.

“Separate the Chaff from the Grain”

The First Step Towards Payment Of Pending MGNREGA Wages In West Bengal 

On 6th June 2023, a division bench led by the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court pronounced the first step towards the payment of pending wages of MGNREGA workers in West Bengal by asking State and Central Governments “to endeavour to separate the chaff from the grain”.

In WPA (P) 237 of 2023, filed by Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, the Judge asked for genuine workers to be identified and for wages to be paid to them. He insisted that “all authorities must endeavour to ensure that the benefits under the 2005 Act and the schemes that have been formulated therewith reach the beneficiaries”. It was thus once again established that those who had genuinely worked under the Act must be paid, no matter how much corruption there had been in the State.

In the hearing, the counsel of the Central Government declared that by its letter dated 9th March 2022, the Central Government had informed the State Government that release of all further funds would be stopped until the State Government ensured  compliance with the directives of the Central Government with regard to the inquiry reports of the central team. All wage payments subsequently would be have to be met by the State Government till compliance. Also, all pending payments before this date (i.e 9th March 2022) would be paid by the Central Government.

The Honourable Chief Justice asked the State Government to file through affidavit, why they should not be asked to pay for workers’ wages post 9th March 2022, as per the directions of the Central Government’s letter dated 9th March 2022. Similarly, he also asked the Central Government to file in its affidavit the status of payments it had made for the period prior to March 9th 2022.

Incidentally the Central Government’s NREGA website shows that payments of Rs 1554.90 crores are pending for the period 16th December 2021 (when the Central Government allowed the last payment of wages) to 9th March 2022, when it invoked Section 27 to stop payments.

During the hearing, the State Government claimed that it had sent four action taken reports to the Central Government so far. Its latest communication was dated 2nd February 2023 to which it had not received a reply so far. The Central Government on the other hand claimed that State Government’s replies were not satisfactory, so it had invoked Section 27 vide its letter dated 9th March 2022 and had not revoked the same so far.

The counsel of the Central Government also referred to WPA 555 of 2022, where the leader of the opposition, Shri Subhendu Adhikary, had filed a PIL to raise several issues related to the misappropriation of funds in the State under MGNREGA.

The Court has asked for the matter to be listed in the monthly list of July. It has also asked for the clubbing of the PBKMS’s (Paschim Banga Khet Mazoor Samity) case with Subhendu Adhikary’s case. Both hearings will take place together.

The petitioners were represented by Sr. Adv Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya and Adv Purbayan Chakraborty.