The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the Centre’s plea challenging the Calcutta High Court’s direction to resume the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme prospectively in West Bengal from August 1, 2025.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta refused to interfere with the High Court’s June 18 order, observing that it did not warrant any intervention.
The Calcutta High Court had allowed the Centre to continue its inquiry into alleged irregularities in the implementation of the scheme across several districts, but directed that MGNREGA — the 100-day job guarantee programme — must resume in the state from August 1, 2025.
“The endeavour of the court at this juncture is the implementation of the scheme in the State of West Bengal, which has been kept in abeyance for the past close to three years,” the High Court had observed.
It had also clarified that while resuming MGNREGA, the Union government would be “fully empowered to impose special conditions, restrictions and regulations” to ensure that no irregularities occur during the scheme’s execution in the state.
The High Court noted that although central inspection teams had reported irregularities in wage disbursements and approvals, the Act itself does not allow the scheme to be kept in “cold storage for eternity.” It emphasised that the Centre retains adequate authority to probe any illegality or malpractice while ensuring the continuation of the welfare scheme.
