Key Takeaways
- The Calcutta High Court ordered the Centre to file an affidavit on pending MGNREGA funds.
- West Bengal faces a shortfall of nearly Rs 54,000 crore allocated under the scheme.
- Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari seeks a CBI probe into alleged fund siphoning.
Kolkata: Calcutta High Court hearing two separate PILs has ordered the Centre to file an affidavit in the alleged non-payment of centrally sponsored MGNREGA scheme funds due to the West Bengal Government for long, court sources said on Wednesday.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is the government of India’s rural employment guarantee scheme.
The state government and the Centre have been arguing and counter arguing regarding the poverty alleviation scheme for long.
While the state has charged the Centre with withholding the funds for alleged political consideration, the latter accused the Bengal
government of not proving the audit report of the expenditure as well as alleged issuance of lakhs of fake job cards to siphon off the allotted funds.
Hearing the two separate Public Interest Litigations, the division bench of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Union Government to file its affidavit regarding the alleged pending MGNREGA scheme funds to the West Bengal government.
The division bench of Calcutta High court, headed by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya, was hearing the PILs, and said the matter would come up on October 16 (Monday), court sources said.
While opposition leader of the state assembly Suvendu Adhikari
filed the PIL seeking a CBI probe into the alleged siphoning off the
MGNREGA funds, the other by an association of agriculture
labourers sought immediate payment of the arrears to them.
Advocate General S.N. Mukhopadhyay, who appeared for the state
government, however, admitted that there had been lapses on the part of the state on the issue.
“ The state is not willing to enter into a competition. We want the genuine beneficiaries under the 100-day job scheme to get
their legitimate dues. I will not say there was no mistake on the part of the state government, ” the AG told the court during the maiden hearing.
He acknowledged that “Mistakes do happen, not only in West Bengal but in other states also.”
The government has submitted an action taken report to the Union
government on the matter, he said.
Additional Solicitor General A.K. Chakraborty, appearing on behalf of the Union government, alleged that there had been huge irregularities in the implementation of the centrally sponsored poverty alleviation scheme – MGNREGA – in Bengal.
Nearly Rs 54,000 crore had been allotted to the West Bengal government under this scheme, but there was no audit report from the state side, Chakraborty told the division bench.
Meanwhile, a Delhi report said Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department minister Giriraj Singh has threatened to move court of law and seek a CBI probe into the alleged misappropriation of MGNREGA fund, meant for poorer of the poorest people in the state of West Bengal.
