Wages For MNREGA Workers Pending Due To Negative Balance In State Funds : NGO's Plea In Supreme Court

A plea has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking urgent directions to redress the situation of workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MNREGA) in the country arguing that their pending wages are piling up along with negative balances in funds of most of the states.

An application has been filed by Swaraj Abhiyan seeking directions to Centre to put in place a mechanism to ensure that State Governments have adequate funds to implement the programme for a subsequent month.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday mentioned the application before a Bench comprising CJI NV Ramana, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Hima Kohli.

"This is the MGNREGA matter, orders were passed regarding payment of MGNREGA workers. Despite orders, today there negative balance of 11k crores in MGNREGA fund. The IA is for allocation of more funds so workers can be paid," Mr Bhushan said.

The Bench agreed to hear the matter after the vacation and also asked Mr Bhushan to serve a copy of the application to the Central Government.

The present application has been filed in a 2015 writ petition filed by Swaraj Abhiyan where directions were issued by the Court for implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.

The applicant has pointed out that a grave crisis is being faced by crores of workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MNREGA) in the country, with their pending wages piling up along with negative balances in most of the states.

"As of 26th November 2021, the State Governments are facing a shortage of Rs 9682 crores and 100% of the allocated funds for the year have been exhausted with 5 months of the year still remaining," the application states.

The application has sought directions to the Central Government to put in place a mechanism to ensure that State Governments have adequate funds to implement the programme for a subsequent month. The month when the demand was highest in the previous year should be used as the base month for which minimum funds must be provided to the State Government in advance.

The applicant has sought directions to the Central Government and State Government to comply with the instruction issued by the Ministry of Rural Development and ensure that workers are able to register their demand for work through IVRS technologies and get dated acknowledgement receipts for the same.

Further directions have been sought to the Central Government and State Government to comply with provisions in the Annual Master Circular and ensure automatic payment of unemployment allowance to workers who have not been provided work within 15 days of them demanding it.

A direction has been sought to the Central Government to ensure payment of compensation for the delay in payment of wages, as prescribed in the MGNREGA along with clearing all pending wage payments due.

The application has sought directions to the Central and State Governments that Social Audit Units be instructed to conduct social audits of MGNREGA and audit the following parameters of implementation:

a. Registration of demand for work

b. Provision of work within 15 days of demanding it, and provision of unemployment allowance for non-provision of work within 15 days of demanding it

c. Payment of wages within 15 days of completion of work, and provision of compensation for delay in payment of wages if wages are not paid within 15 days

d. Extent of delay in wage payments caused due to Stage I delays and Stage II delays

The applicant has also sought the following directions: 

• A direction to the Central Government to proactively disclose "Stage 2 delays" i.e. the delay in payment of wages caused by the Central Government in the process between receiving the FTO, and directly crediting the wage payable into the worker's account
• A direction to the Central Government to calculate compensation payable for both Stage 1 and 2 delays
  
• A direction to the Central Government to ensure compliance with provisions in the Annual Master Circular and ensure automatic payment of compensation for delayed payment of wages to workers who have not been provided wages within 15 days of completing their work.
  
• A direction to the Central Government to provide an additional entitlement of 50 days of work per household with additional budgetary provision. The latter should be equivalent to at least half of the labour budget approved in the state
  
• A direction that the social audit process and the functioning of the social audit units be in compliance with the norms of the C&AG social auditing standards and Audit of Scheme Rules 2011 while ensuring that all appointments made by the SAU in violation of the Auditing Standards be considered null and void and fresh appointments be completed within 3 months in order to ensure the independence of the audit process
  
• A direction that Social Audit Units conduct a social audit of NREGA under the supervision of the C&AG, and the C&AG submit a summary of the social audits conducted and key findings to the Hon'ble Supreme Court within 6 months

Case Title: Swaraj Abhiyan vs Union of India