'Let Governments And Politics Be Out Of It':SC Seeks Centre's Response On Plea For Pending Wages of MNREGA Workers

The Supreme Court on Tuesday required the UOI to file its response on the 2021 plea contending that the pending wages of workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MNREGA) are piling up along with negative balances in funds of most of the states The Court required a copy of the application to be made available with the offices of ASG K. M. Nataraj, recording that he may seek instructions and file a response The bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Ahsanuddin Amanullah was hearing an IA filed in the 2015 PIL by Swaraj Abhiyan for redressal of the situation of MGNREGA workers which was disposed off in May, 2018 Advocate Prashant Bhushan, for the applicants, told the bench, "More than several thousand crores, Rs.13,000 crores of payments are pending, payments have been due under MGNREGA to the workers, crores of workers" Justice Rastogi: "What is your basis?" Mr. Bhushan: "This is not disputed....The Act says that one person in every rural household has to be given hundred days of guaranteed employment. The Act further provides that the employment has to be provided within 15 days of making the demand, failing which they have to pay unemployment allowance. And if the payments are delayed beyond 15 days of their having worked, then compensation for delayed payment. Now what is happening is that, despite the various directions given by this court already in this matter that adequate budget has to be placed so that people are able to get employment under this Act, payment has to be made within time, that unemployment allowance has to be given etc, today the situation is that from their own website, it can be seen that more than 10,000 crores of payment is still pending. In West Bengal alone- I am just giving one example of one state- More than 2000 crores of wages are pending for the last 15,16 months. They are not being paid" Justice Rastogi: "Has the state government made the demand?" Mr. Bhushan: "State governments have made demand but the central committee is not releasing" Justice Rastogi: "Are we supposed to regulate this interrelationship between the central government and state governments, why budget is not released, something released, partially released?" Mr. Bhushan: "We have come on the behalf of workers who have already worked but have not been paid even for 15 months. Those who want to work are not being given work by the government saying that 'look, we have no funds so we can’t give you any work' even though the act entitles them to get minimum hundred days of work in a year. It is a demand-driven regime" Justice Rastogi: "You can’t get wages of hundred days sitting at your home. It is unemployment" Mr. Bhushan: "That is why the act says that if you demand work, at least one person in every rural family has to be given hundred days of work. But when I go and demand work, the government says 'there is no money in the scheme and that is why we can't give you work'. That is one of the prayers in this application also and that is on the basis of a detailed letter written by central government Secretary" Bench to ASG: "Have you filed any response?" ASG: "I have not filed any response. For all these issues, state governments have to come forward, not some NGOs filing application that you release the funds to the state government" Justice Amanullah to ASG: "It is a very, very good scheme. But now you are giving rise to corruption for the reason that you release the funds after 15 months, 16 months so there are chances that there will be fudging. Because now, at one point of time, you are deciding about a year and a half. The more it is up-t-date, the lesser the chance of pilferage....Kindly assist us as to what is the scheme and how to make it more conducive and streamlined. We will give you time. Ultimately it is the common man Who is benefiting from it" Justice Rastogi: "Your demand is also very plausible that everybody who has worked must get the money. But the question is for this court to....suppose you’re coming from West Bengal, there are other states also. The state where you come from, the High Court can take care of what is the budget required for the state of Jharkhand or Maharashtra or Rajasthan or something else and how’s the central government corresponding to them. But if we take this call here, God knows how many more workers, state, budget, no budget, sanctioned, not sanctioned" Mr. Bhushan: "All that I am saying is that the government has their website, they have an electronic system by which the people who have worked under MGNREGA are registered. The payment has to be made directly into the bank accounts of these workers by the central government. Today, the situation is that for many states, the payments are due, for West Bengal I know that for more than 15 months. The record is there with the central government that these workers have worked and this is the payment which is due to them, the obligation of the central government...

'Let Governments And Politics Be Out Of It':SC Seeks Centre's Response On Plea For Pending Wages of MNREGA Workers

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