MGNREGA verdict in, but tug of war between Centre, state lingers in Bengal

Even as both the TMC and the BJP claim 'victory' after the Calcutta HC's order on resumption of MGNREGA in the state, political fault lines are likely to widen before Assembly polls next year

In a landmark judgment last week, the Calcutta High Court directed the Centre to resume the implementation of the stalled Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in West Bengal from August 1, prospectively.

The Centre had put on hold the release of funds under the scheme since March 9, 2022, in accordance with the provisions under section 27 of the MGNREGA, 2005, due to non-compliance of its directives.

 

According to a reply tabled in Parliament, total unpaid dues of around ₹5,583 crore towards West Bengal were pending under MGNREGS till August 1, 2023. Of this amount, ₹2,770 crore was purely on account of pending wages, while payment for material accounted for the rest.

 

The suspension of the scheme had triggered a political storm in the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-ruled state, with both the ruling party and the principal Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blaming each other for the mess.

 

 

 

The TMC had repeatedly alleged that it was Centre’s “stepmotherly attitude” towards Bengal and its “politics of subjugation” that blocked the scheme, depriving the poor of their rightful dues. The Centre, on the other hand, alleged that it was “rampant corruption” and “nepotism” on ground that had forced its hand. A group of TMC legislators had even staged a dharna in Delhi demanding resumption of MGNREGA and other social-sector schemes covering rural housing and rural roads that had remained stalled over allegations of rampant corruption.

 

The Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samiti (PBKMS), an organisation promoting rights of agricultural workers to decent wages, contends around 25 million registered MGNREGS workers have been directly impacted after the funds were withheld.

 

The Centre, though, believes that the number of actual workers enrolled under the rural jobs scheme in the state is much less. It claimed that Bengal had issued 2.5 million fake MGNREGA job cards resulting in government money worth crores being siphoned off. The Centre also alleged that despite sending several monitoring teams that duly submitted reports, the state government failed to act in time. Moreover, the Ministry of Rural Development, the Centre claimed, had on several occasions asked the state government to submit a comprehensive action taken report (ATR) on the scheme. But that too never happened.

 

Finally, the West Bengal government was warned that if the ATR was not submitted in time, MGNREGA funds would be held back. 

Eventually, an ATR report was presented, but it was found to be “grossly inadequate”, prompting the Centre to stall the scheme. 

In the aftermath of the verdict

 

A division bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee, in their order, ruled that MGNREGA scheme shall be implemented prospectively with effect from August 1, 2025.

“While doing so, the appropriate authority of the central government is fully empowered to impose special conditions, restrictions, regulations etc, which have not been imposed in other states in the country so as to ensure no illegality or irregularity occurs while the scheme is being implemented prospectively from August 2025 onwards,” the bench said. 

 

Although the order is yet to be uploaded, both the TMC and the BJP have claimed victory.

 

For all practical purposes, experts insist, the rural jobs scheme would resume in Bengal unless the high court verdict is challenged in the Supreme Court. Some observers highlight the fact that the high court order had empowered the Centre to impose special conditions, regulations and restrictions to check irregularity. It could mean that a lot of control will still rest with the Centre.

 

Sources in the Union government said that they were closely studying the court’s order and all options, including challenging it in the top court, or filing a review petition in the high court itself, were being considered.

 

Purbayan Chakraborty, an advocate representing PBKMS, hailed the verdict as a big win for MGNREGA workers in West Bengal who depend on the scheme for their sustenance.

 

Hedging political bets

 

For now, the high court order seems to have brought closure to a long-pending issue. However, with the state going to polls next year, the fault lines with the Centre are bound to widen.

 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lost no time to welcome the order. But asked: “Why from August, what about the arrears? For four years, funds have been stopped—what about the people who worked and did not get paid.” She also pointed out that the state government had stepped in to compensate—with the Karmashree scheme.

 

“The chief minister is asking for arrears. She knows that is not possible — it is just a political gimmick,” Samik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson of BJP’s Bengal unit, told Business Standard. 

 

“The BJP or the central government doesn’t want to stop the flow of funds. Funds were stopped because of institutional corruption,” he said, adding that the order was likely to be challenged in the Supreme Court.

 

PBKMS’s Chakraborty argues that section 27 had only authorised the Centre to stop funds in exceptional circumstances for a limited period. “And when the power has been exercised, it should immediately put in place remedial measures and lift the ban,” Chakraborty adds.

 

Political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty, however, asserted that identity politics would dominate the Assembly elections — notwithstanding the latest tiff between Centre and the state. “Minorities will still vote for TMC while a section of Hindus will remember the corruption issues and vote against it. At the end of the day, the votes will be cast on the basis of religion,” he argued.