Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the Centre to immediately resume work under the 100-day rural job scheme, which has been dormant in Bengal since December 2020 when the Narendra Modi government halted the release of funds
citing corruption.
Last month, the Supreme Court upheld the high court’s June order on the resumption of the MGNREGA in the state, dismissing the Centre’s appeal.
On Friday, the high court bench of acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen told the Centre that it would have to follow the Supreme Court’s verdict and disburse the due amount with immediate effect.
Ashoke Chakraborty, the additional solicitor-general of eastern India who represented the Centre, said: “At present, there is no bar on the state government to resume the assured 100-day work scheme.”
The Bengal government claims that the Centre owes it about ₹1.16 lakh crore under the NREGA, an amount accumulated since April 2022.
Foreign prisoners
The division bench presided over by acting Chief Justice Paul on Friday directed both the state and the Union governments to file separate affidavits on the status of foreign nationals from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who are in Bengal jails.
The order was passed based on a PIL alleging that a significant number of Pakistani, Afghan and Bangladeshi nationals have been in Bengal jails for years.