MGNREGS was put on hold in the State from 2022 over allegations of financial irregularities in the implementation of the scheme. File image used for representation only.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Agricultural workers unions and political parties in West Bengal on Monday (October 27, 2025) welcomed the Supreme Court order dismissing a petition filed by the Union Government challenging an order of the Calcutta High Court directing the prospective implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme in West Bengal, from August 1, 2025.
The 100-day scheme was put on hold in the State from 2022 over allegations of financial irregularities in the implementation of the scheme.
“Although the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court had directed that the 100 Days Work must resume from 1 August, neither the Central nor the State Government took any steps to comply…Today’s dismissal by the Supreme Court marks a decisive victory for Bengal’s rural workers and a resounding affirmation that the Right to Work cannot be denied or delayed,” a statement by Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) said.
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It was PBKMS, a union of agricultural workers that had approached the Calcutta High Court over resumption of the scheme in the State and the High Court on June 18 issued the order for resumption of the scheme.
“Today’s dismissal by the Supreme Court marks a decisive victory for Bengal’s rural workers and a resounding affirmation that the Right to Work cannot be denied or delayed. This is not merely a legal win, it is a victory of dignity, labour, and collective struggle,” the agricultural union had said in a statement.
The Calcutta High Court while delivering the order had stated that the “Act ( MGNREGA Act) does not envisage a situation where it would be put to cold storage for eternity”.
“The central government has sufficient means to enquire into the irregularity in the disbursement of wages…however, there can be a line drawn between past actions and future steps to be taken for implementation. This in the opinion of this court, would be in the public interest and subserve the interest in which the act was enacted,” the High Court had stated.
The Trinamool Congress also welcomed the order and said that the Supreme Court order on Monday (October 27, 2025) demands ‘historic victory’ for the people of Bengal, who refused to “bow down before Delhi’s arrogance and injustice”. “When they failed to defeat us politically, BJP weaponised deprivation. They imposed an economic blockade on Bengal, snatching away the wages of the poor and punishing the people for standing by Maa, Mati, Manush,” Trinamool Congress said in an official statement.
CPI (M) State Secretary Md. Salim that the delay in resumption of the work under MGNREGA is an example of ‘setting (tacit understanding)’ between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress.
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“We were the ones who brought the law for MGNREGA..After that, we saw Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity approached the High Court and there was an order that from August 1, 20025 work should be resumed. Over the past few months these unions, including left unions and our party have been campaigning in villages and blocks that work has to resumed,” Mr. Salim said.
The CPI(M) leader welcomed the order of the Supreme Court and said the MGNREGA issue reveals the character of BJP and TMC.
The 100 days work has been suspended in the State for three years and ten months and experts point that it has only exacerbated rural distress in the State. There were about 70 lakh MGNREGA job card holders in the State when the scheme was stopped in 2022.
Published – October 28, 2025 11:24 am IST
