No clear direction has been given by the High Court about when MGNREGA work will be resumed in West Bengal. This is despite the fact that the scheme has remained arbitrarily suspended by the Union Government since 9 March 2022, thereby inflicting immense distress on millions of rural workers in the state.
Groundxero | April 11, 2025
The union government has stopped funding the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in West Bengal since 9 March 2022, accusing the Trinamool Congress-run state government of corruption in its working. The arbitrary decision has affecting the constitutional and statutory rights of over 2.57 crores of rural workers in the state.
Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS), a trade union representing rural workers, have being consistently saying that the central government’s inquiry into past irregularities into the implementation of the scheme cannot serve as a justification to withhold funds necessary for present and future work allocations. The union argued that punishing rural workers for alleged past lapses of the state government is both unjust and contrary to the objectives of the Act.
Concerned with the deprivation of 2.57 crores of rural workers, PBKMS has filed a case [Public Interest Litigation (WPA (P) 237/2023] at the Kolkata High Court emphasizing the need to pay wages, resume work or provide unemployment allowance to these workers. However, in the last hearing on 10 April, 2025, the court gave no clear direction about when MGNREGA work will be resumed in West Bengal.
In a press statement PBKMS said,
After struggling for six months to get a date for a court hearing, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers in West Bengal once again had to content with an order that gave no concrete relief. PBKMS, a trade union representing rural workers, reiterated its demand for immediate resumption of work under MGNREGA and the payment of pending unemployment allowances – only to once again receive verbal platitudes instead of concrete measures from the High Court.
Frustrated with the court’s order, PBKMS called it a black day of mourning for MGNREGA workers in West Bengal.
Court’s Direction on Work Resumption
The Hon’ble Court on Thursday issued significant directions regarding the phased resumption of MGNREGA in West Bengal. Relying on Section 27(2) of the Act, the Court observed that while the alleged misuse of funds can be investigated, such investigations must not indefinitely stall the scheme’s implementation. The Court directed the Central Government to submit a report explaining why MGNREGA should not be prospectively implemented in West Bengal—initially in all districts except Purba Bardhaman, Hooghly, Malda, and the Darjeeling GTA area where investigation/inquiry is going on. The Court emphasized that the Central Government may issue appropriate executive instructions to ensure adequate checks and balances. All these aspects are to be detailed in the report to be submitted by the Central Government.
However, the Court gave no clear direction about when work will be resumed. This is despite the fact that the scheme has remained arbitrarily suspended since March 2022, affecting millions of rural workers in the state.
PBKMS’s Submission and Court’s Direction
PBKMS argued that since no employment is being provided under MGNREGA, workers are legally entitled to unemployment allowance for the entire period. The union stressed that the denial of such payments amounts to a grave violation of workers’ rights under the Act.
The Court reaffirmed its earlier direction (dated October 7, 2024), requiring the State Government to explain why it should not be ordered to pay unemployment allowance, given the admitted failure to provide work over the past two years.
The case filed by PBKMS was mainly concerned with the deprivation of MNREGA workers and has emphasised on the need to pay wages, resume work or provide unemployment allowance. PBKMS’s petition has been clubbed together with another matter (WPA (P) 555 of 2023), which is concerned with the misappropriation of funds. The Court has repeatedly chosen to focus its attention on the reports of corruption and misappropriation of funds and on measures to recover this money, as well as to ensure that checks and balances are put in place. The order on 10th April 2025 is once again a repetition of these concerns.
PBKMS states that the recovery of funds and a stoppage to corruption are important ends in themselves. The amount of misappropriated funds was given by the Central Government to be 537.05 lakh rupees in 4 districts. Of this, 239.62 lakh rupees or about 50% has already been recovered by the State Government. However, for this kind of misappropriation, the Central Government has frozen funds for three years and deprived the State’s NREGA workers of 22,500 crores of rupees (West Bengal used to receive about 7500 crores of rupees every year).
PBKMS reiterates that the ongoing suspension of MGNREGA and the refusal to pay unemployment allowance have inflicted immense distress on rural workers in West Bengal. Distress migration has increased manifold. The Court has set the next date of hearing as 15th May 2025. PBKMS fears that the next month, especially as it is a lean month for agricultural work, will only bring reports of more workers leaving their homes for faraway states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with reports of wage theft, accidents and deaths of migrant workers.
PBKMS has urged both the Central and State Governments to act without delay to resume work under MGNREGA and ensure that all eligible workers receive their rightful unemployment allowances.
Case Details: Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity & Anr. Vs. The Union of India & Ors.
Case No: WPA(P) 237 of 2023