The Supreme Court on Tuesday told the Centre to file its response to a petition alleging that pending wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act were piling up, Live Law reported.
The petition has been filed political party Swaraj Abhiyan.
On April 11, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had allowed Swaraj Abhiyan to mention the case before a bench headed by Justice Ajay Rastogi, according to PTI.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the party, told the court on Tuesday that Rs 13,000 crore in payments to MGNREGA workers were pending.
“We have come on the behalf of workers who have already worked but have not been paid even for 15 months,” Bhushan told the court. “Those who want to work are not being given work by the government saying that ‘look, we have no funds so we can’t give you any work’ even though the act entitles them to get minimum hundred days of work in a year. It is a demand-driven scheme.”
Bhushan said that the Supreme Court has given several directions to ensure an adequate budget for the scheme and to ensure that payments are made on time. He noted that the Centre stopped MGNREGA payments to West Bengal citing alleged corruption at the state government level.
“Now under the Act, if there is any allegation of corruption, the central government has the power to investigate those,” Bhushan told the court. “They should investigate those. How can they not pay the workers who have already worked?”
The court told Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, to file a response on the matter. The case will be heard again in July.
The MGNREGA was introduced in 2005 by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and is aimed at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas. The scheme guarantees 100 days of unskilled work annually for every rural household that wants it, covering all districts in the country.
For over a month, MGNREGA workers and activists have been holding protests against measures related to the scheme such as mandatory online attendance and Aadhaar-based payment.
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