Genuine Workers Under MGNREGA Entitled To Payment: Calcutta High Court Asks Govt To Take Steps To Release Unpaid Wages In West Bengal

The Calcutta High Court has made it clear that while it is essential to eliminate dummy accounts allegedly benefitting from Centre's MGNREGA scheme, it is also the duty of the government to ensure that genuine workers do not suffer the brunt of it.

A division bench comprising of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnaman and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya observed,

"If in the opinion of the Central Government there has been misappropriation of funds and the actual beneficiaries have not been benefited...the endeavour of the authority should be to separate the chaff from the grains. 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 case relates to the issue of pending wages of daily-wage workers in West Bengal.

In March 2022, the Centre stopped release of funds under the scheme and directed that wages will be paid by the State Government from its own resources till it submits a satisfactory Action Taken Report regarding the use of funds.

The petitioners, who claim to be workers under the scheme said they have not received their wages since December 2021, accumulating to a total of Rs.276484.47 lakh in unpaid wages over the 18-month period.

The Assistant Advocate General for the State submitted that a new ATR dated 2nd February 2023 was submitted to the Centre and a request for the revocation of the March 2022 order was made.

The Bench thus directed the Central government to respond to the new ATR in order to ensure that if any genuine persons have offered themselves to work under the Act and have completed the work satisfactorily, they are entitled to the disbursement of their wages in accordance with the principles of the Act. The Chief Justice reiterated that such a scheme that is meant for the benefit of workers should not be used in a way that is to their detriment.

“It is to be borne in mind by the concerned authority that the object of the scheme has to be fulfilled by the concerned authorities. The Act of 2005 was enacted to provide for enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteered to do unskilled manual work and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Therefore, it should be the endeavour of all the concerned authorities to ensure that the benefits under the Act of 2005 as well as the schemes, which have been formulated under the Act of 2005 are implemented.”

The Central government was also directed to release the status of payments for workers dated prior to the stop payment order of March 2022, while the State was directed to answer on the question of whether they had complied with the mandate under Section 19 of MGNREGA which deals with the grievance redressal mechanism.

The Bench called upon the State Government to answer whether such a redressal mechanism has been established at block level and the district level for dealing with any complaint by any person in respect of implementation of the scheme and whether any procedure has been laid down for disposal of such complaint.

According to the State, the directions passed by the Central government in the order of 9^th March 2022 was beyond the provisions of the MGNREGA itself- a contention which was vehemently disputed and denied by the Deputy Solicitor General.

The Court has directed for this matter to be listed along with a connected writ for further hearing in July.

Coram: Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnaman and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya

Case title: Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity & Anr. Vs. The Union of India & Ors

Advocates for petitioners: Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, Saptarshi Banerjee, Purbayan Chakraborty and Kuntal Banerjee.