Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity ... vs The Union Of India & Ors
2023 Latest Caselaw 3650 Cal

06.06.2023
Item No.3
Ct. No.1
PG/KS
                               W.P.A.(P) 237 of 2023

                  Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity & Anr.
                                    Vs.
                           The Union of India & Ors.


             Mr. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya
             Mr. Saptarshi Banerjee
             Mr. Purbayan Chakraborty
             Mr. Kuntal Banerjee
                                       .....for the Petitioners

             Mr. Billwadal Bhattacharya, Ld. Dy. SGI
             Mr. Arijit Majumdar
                                        .....for the Union of India
             Mr. Samrat Sen, Ld. AAAG
             Mr. Piyush Agarwal
             Mr. Utsha Dasgupta
             Ms. Shrivalli Kajaria
                                        .....for the State




             1.   By this public interest litigation, the petitioners,

                  which is an organization seeks for issuance of a

                  writ of mandamus to direct the respondent

authorities to forthwith release payments and

wages to the workers in the State to the tune of

Rs.276484.47 lakhs along with statutory interest

@ 0.05% of the unpaid wages per day of delay

beyond the sixteenth day of closure of muster

roll, who have worked under the schemes of

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Act, 2005 (for brevity, "the Act of

2005"), who have not received their wages since

December, 2021 by crediting their respective due

wages to their bank or postal accounts.

2. The petitioners also sought for issuance of a writ

of mandamus to direct the 2 nd respondent to

immediately start the implementation of the

schemes under M.N.G.E.G.A. within the State of

West Bengal upon due sanction of funds as

required by law.

3. A further direction has been sought for against

the respondent nos.6 to 27 to carry out necessary

fact finding as to the amount of wages remaining

due and payable in their respective districts.

4. Earlier, a public interest writ petition in W.P.A.(P)

555 of 2022 was filed, wherein an allegation was

made that there has been misappropriation of

funds in the State under the M.G.N.R.E.G.A..

The Division Bench by order dated 28 th

November, 2022 after recording the submissions

of the learned advocate for the writ petitioner as

well as the learned Additional Solicitor General

for the Union of India and the learned Advocate

General for the State directed the

respondents/State to file their affidavit in

opposition within a time frame and liberty was

also granted to file their reply. It is stated that

the said writ petition is still pending.

5. Before filing the present writ petition, certain

events have taken place. The Central

Government by an order dated 9th March, 2022 in

exercise of its powers under Section 27 of the Act

of 2005 stopped the release of funds under Wage,

Material and Administrative Component under

the said scheme and further directed that the

Fund Transfer Order for wage payment generated

from the date of the order dated 9 th March, 2022

will be paid by the State Government from its

own resources and it will be continued till

necessary compliance with reference to the

direction issued in paragraph 10 (i) of the said

order is complied with by the State Government.

Further, the order states that pending wage

payment and material payment, if any, prior to

the date of the order (09.03.2022) will be released

by the Central Government.

6. It is pointed out by the learned Deputy Solicitor

General representing the Union of India that the

Central Government has passed the order under

Section 27 of the Act of 2005 dated 9 th March,

2022 after examining the Action Taken Report

(A.T.R.) submitted by the State Government and

finding the same to be not satisfactory.

7. It is pointed out by the learned Assistant

Advocate General appearing for the State of West

Bengal that a fresh Action Taken Report has been

submitted by the State Government on 2 nd

February, 2023 containing all the relevant details

and annexures and a request has been made for

revocation of the order passed under Section 27

of the Act of 2005.

8. Thus, what is required to be considered is

whether the Action Taken Report submitted by

the State Government on 2nd February, 2023 is to

the satisfaction of the Central Government and

whether any order has been passed pursuant to

such report. The other issue would be that in

terms of the order dated 9 th March, 2022 passed

by the Central Government under Section 27 of

the Act of 2005, it has been specifically

mentioned that the Fund Transfer Order (F.T.O.)

for wage payment generated from the date of the

said order (09.03.2022) will be paid by the State

Government from its own resources and it will be

continued till necessary compliance of the

directives of the Central Government with respect

to the Inquiry Report of Central Team led by the

then Joint Secretary and Director is complied

with.

9. Therefore, the State of West Bengal has to answer

as to why a direction should not be issued to

direct the State Government to implement the

directions of the Central Government issued in

paragraph 10(ii) of the order dated 9th March,

2022.

10. The learned Assistant Advocate General

appearing for the State of West Bengal has placed

reliance on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme

Court in the case of Swaraj Abhiyan Vs. Union

of India & Ors. reported in (2016) 7 SCC 498

and has drawn our attention to paragraph 175 of

the judgment to explain as to how the system

called the National Electronic Management

System or NeFMS has been put in place and the

said system has been brought into effect in the

State of West Bengal with effect from 2017.

11. As mentioned above, the Central Government has

to respond by specifically stating as to what is

the decision taken on the Action Taken Report

submitted by the State Government dated 2 nd

February, 2023. It is to be borne in mind by the

concerned authority that the object of the scheme

has to be fulfilled by the concerned authorities.

The Act of 2005 was enacted to provide for

enhancement of livelihood security of the

households in rural areas of the country by

providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage

employment in every financial year to every

household whose adult members volunteered to

do unskilled manual work and for matters

connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Therefore, it should be the endeavour of all the

concerned authorities to ensure that the benefits

under the Act of 2005 as well as the schemes,

which have been formulated under the Act of

2005 are implemented. If in the opinion of the

Central Government there has been

misappropriation of funds and the actual

beneficiaries have not been benefited, as it is

alleged by the petitioner in W.P.A.(P) 555 of 2022

that job cards have been issued in the names of

persons, who are not living in the villages and are

even gainfully employed in private organizations

and it is also alleged that dummy bank accounts

have been opened to receive the payments for the

fictitious job etc, the endeavour of the authority

should be to separate the chaff from the grains.

If genuine persons have offered themselves for

employment under the provisions of the Act of

2005 and they have satisfactorily completed the

work, then it goes without saying that those

employees and workmen are entitled for

disbursement of wages in accordance with the

provisions of the Act and the Schemes framed

thereunder.

12. Therefore, the inquiry to be conducted has to

proceed in an appropriate manner so that the

persons, who have actually worked are not

denied the wages for the labour, which they have

contributed.

13. To take a decision in the matter, concise

affidavits are directed to be filed by the respective

authorities of the Central Government as well as

the State Government by 20th June, 2023, reply

thereto, if any, be filed by 27th June, 2023.

14. Further, we note that in the order passed by the

Central Government dated 9th March, 2022 in

paragraph 10(iii) it has been specifically ordered

that pending wage payment and material

payment, if any, prior to the date of the order

(09.03.2022) will be released by the Central

Government. The affidavit to be filed by the

concerned authority of the Central Government

should specifically indicate as to the status of

release of the pending wage payment.

15. We have specifically used the word 'concise' to

mean that the affidavits should be precise to the

point answering some of the issues, which have

been flagged in this order and it should not be

verbose. Otherwise, it may cause much difficulty

for the Court to take an expeditious decision in

the matter. The annexures, which the Central

Government as well as the State Government,

which they may rely upon, shall be filed in the

form of a compilation for easy reference.

16. The State Government in their affidavit shall also

indicate as to whether the State Government has

complied with the mandate under Section 19 of

the Act of 2005. The said provision deals with

the grievance redressal mechanism and the State

Government is to answer as to whether such a

redressal mechanism has been established at

block level and the district level for dealing with

any complaint by any person in respect of

implementation of the scheme and whether any

procedure has been laid down for disposal of

such complaint.

17. The learned Assistant Advocate General submits

that the direction issued in the order passed by

the Central Government dated 9th March, 2022,

more particularly in paragraph 10(ii) is beyond

the provisions of the scheme and this contention

is vehemently disputed and denied by the learned

Deputy Solicitor General.

18. List this matter along with W.P.A.(P) 555 of 2022

in the Combined Monthly List of Cases for the

Month of July, 2023 higher on board.

(T. S. SIVAGNANAM) CHIEF JUSTICE

(HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA, J.)