Supreme Court upholds Calcutta HC order on ‘MGNREGA resumption’ in Bengal

Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by the Union Government challenging a Calcutta High Court order that directed the prospective implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme in West Bengal from August 1, 2025.

The apex court bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta refused to interfere with the High Court’s decision, stating, “We are not convinced that the impugned order requires any interference. The SLP is dismissed.”

The Calcutta High Court had issued its directive earlier this year while hearing a plea concerning the suspension of MGNREGA funds to West Bengal since 2022 following allegations of large-scale financial irregularities. The court had observed that while the Centre had taken steps to recover misappropriated funds and deposited them in the state’s nodal account, such action could not justify an indefinite suspension of the scheme.

The High Court division bench comprising Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das) had noted that the recovered amount should be transferred to the Consolidated Fund of India but emphasised that the Act does not envisage keeping the scheme in “cold storage for eternity.”

“The Central government has sufficient means to enquire into the irregularity in the disbursement of wages,” the court had observed. “However, there can be a line drawn between past actions and future steps to be taken for implementation.”

The High Court had also held that resuming the scheme would serve the welfare objectives for which MGNREGA was enacted. It granted the Centre liberty to continue its inquiry into the alleged irregularities even as it directed both the state and central governments to impose safeguards to ensure transparency and accountability in future implementation.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to interfere effectively clears the way for the revival of MGNREGA in West Bengal from August 2025, after more than three years of suspension.