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Top Court has said that politics and governments of various states should be kept out of the issue and that the beneficiaries should get what is due to them
The Supreme Court has sought the Centre's response in plea highlighting the pending wages of workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MNREGA).
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and A. Amanullah was hearing the PIL filed by Swaraj Abhiyan seeking redressal of grievances of the workers. The Court has issued a notice to the ministry of rural development (MORD), stating that the beneficiaries must get their dues, posting the case in July. The main PIL was disposed off in 2018 but a fresh application was filed highlighting the negative back up of funds being created across states.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for the petitioner and stated that over 13,000 crores of payment was pending to workers and that it was an undisputed fact. He said that in many states, there was a shortage of funds and the workers were not being paid. "In West Bengal alone, more than 2000 crores of wages are pending for the last 15,16 months. They are not being paid!," said Bhushan.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Nataraj objected to presenting the application in such a way as if nothing was being done by the Center regarding it. He told the court that the application has been filed in proceedings which were already disposed off by the SC in a detailed judgment in 2016. Nataraj said that the example of West Bengal was selectively chosen by the NGO, where not a single penny has been allocated under MGNREGA since December 2021. On this, the bench told the Centre it had nothing to do with any state. The Court said that there is a serious crisis in front of crores of workers working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MNREGA) in the country and their wage arrears are increasing and the loan balance is also increasing in most of the states. "Keep politics out," court noted.
The political party, Swaraj Abhiyan, has stated in its plea that "a grave crisis being faced by crores of workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 [MGNREGA] in the country, with their pending wages piling up along with negative balances in most of the States.... As of November 26, 2021, the State Governments are facing a shortage of ₹9,682 crore and 100% of the allocated funds for the year have been exhausted before the conclusion of the year".
It also sought issuance of direction to the Centre and States to comply with the instruction of May 31, 2013, issued by Ministry of Rural Development and ensure that workers are able to register their demand for work through technologies and get dated acknowledgement receipts for the same.
Case Title: Swaraj Abhiyan Vs Union of India
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