Kolkata, April 10 -- The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the Centre to explain why the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme should not be prospectively implemented in Bengal, excluding four districts.
While hearing petitions demanding that beneficiaries be paid for work already completed under the scheme, the bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das) observed that the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREGA) Act does not allow for indefinite suspension of the scheme's implementation due to complaints.
The bench stated that the Central government may impose "adequate checks and balances by passing appropriate instructions specifically to hold good for West Bengal." The court observed that appropriate remedial measures must be undertaken within a reasonable timeframe.
The Central government was directed to clarify why the scheme should not be resumed across Bengal, excluding East Burdwan, Hooghly, Malda and the Darjeeling (GTA) areas where allegations of fund misappropriation have surfaced.
Representing the Centre, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Asok Kumar Chakrabarti argued that allegations of misappropriation were not limited to the four districts alone, but extended to other districts as well.
The court responded that if Central teams found irregularities in other districts those findings should also be presented.
The Centre was directed to submit a report addressing these issues within three weeks.
The court added that the state government's contribution, as per the apportionment under the NREGA, should also flow into the exchequer. The state has been asked to respond to an earlier order asking why a directive should not be issued to it for unemployment allowance since employment has not been provided under the scheme for the past two years.
Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, representing the petitioners - beneficiaries of the MGNREGA scheme - argued that people who had worked under the scheme were entitled to receive their due wages.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.