Calcutta HC seeks affidavit from Centre on non-payment of MGNREGA dues to Bengal

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Union government to file an affidavit on non-payment of central dues to West Bengal government for the 100-day job scheme under MGNREGA.

The next hearing in the matter is scheduled on October 16, when the Centre has to submit the affidavit in the matter.

Two parallel PILs, one filed by the leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari and the other by an association of agriculture labourers in the state, came up for hearing before the division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnananm and Justice Hirnamya Bhattacharya.

During the hearing, advocate general S.N. Mukhopadhyay, appeared for the state government, admitted that there had been lapses on the part of the state administration in the matter.

“The state government does not want to enter into a competition. We want the genuine beneficiaries under the 100-day job scheme to get their legitimate dues. I will not say that there was no mistake on the part of the state government.

"Mistakes do happen, not only in West Bengal but in other states too. The state government had sent an action taken report to the Centre. But the Union government has not conveyed its decision on that report,” the advocate general said.

In his argument, additional solicitor general A.K. Chakraborty, representing the Centre, claimed that there had been massive irregularities in the implementation of the 100-day job scheme in West Bengal.

A total of Rs 44,000 crore had been allotted to the state under this scheme, but no audit report was furnished,” Chakraborty argued.