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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Denial of MGNREGA entitlements continues in blatant violation of Supreme Court orders

Denial of MGNREGA entitlements continues in blatant violation of Supreme Court orders

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published Published on Nov 9, 2017   modified Modified on Nov 9, 2017
-Press release from NREGA Sangharsh Morcha

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Swaraj Abhiyan in the Supreme Court on the severe drought conditions in the country had drawn the attention of the Court to the inadequate effort of the Central and state governments in implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), amongst other welfare programmes. In its last judgment on issues of MGNREGA workers on 13 May 2016, the Supreme Court had categorically instructed the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India to implement MGNREGA in its true spirit by ensuring 1) timely release of adequate funds to states and timely payment of wages to workers; 2) payment of compensation for delays in wage payments; 3) effective monitoring of the programme; and 4) implementation of all provisions of the Act. But more than a year after this hearing, the Ministry continues to violate the orders of the Court. The Court will hear the matter of MGNREGA next on 5 December 2017.

Violation of order on timely release of funds and payment of wages

Taking note of the perverse effect on workers of delays in releasing adequate funds to the states, the Court had instructed the Ministry to “release to the State Governments adequate funds under the Scheme in a timely manner so that ‘workforce’ is paid its wages well in time”. But as on 6 November 2017, wage payments worth at least Rs. 3541 crores are pending due to insufficiency of funds and delay in releasing funds. In addition to this, the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are running a negative balance. With five more months left in this year, the Ministry is left with only 13.9 per cent of the approved budget for 2017-18. This exposes the recent claim of the Ministry that there is no paucity of funds for the programme.

Contrary to the claim made by the Ministry in the Court that informal capping of labour budget does not take place, the Ministry had approved only 77 per cent of the total labour budget of 287 crore person-days demanded by the states for 2017-18. To meet the total demand of the state, the union government will have to allocate additional funds worth at least Rs 17,510 crores. It must be mentioned that the labour budget proposed by the states is only indicative of the anticipated demand for work as there is no way to accurately predict the future need for MGNREGA work. Also, workers seeking work have to be provided with timely employment even if the proposed budget has been exhausted.

Violation of order on payment of compensation for delay in wages

Reacting to the massive delays in payment of wages, the Court had commented, “We can understand delayed payment of a few days or weeks to a few people, but in this case it is delayed payment of a few weeks (if not more) to lakhs of people. Given the enormous number of persons involved, this is really unfortunate.” and ordered the Ministry to ensure payment of compensation for delay in wages to the workers. Payment of only 10.6 per cent of the total payable compensation of Rs. 37.62 crores in 2017-18 to the workers exposes the lack of adherence to the Court orders and the employment guarantee act by the Union and state governments. It must be added that compensation is based on an incomplete calculation of wage payment delays in the official MGNREGA Management Information System (MIS) (available at www.nrega.nic.in).

The MIS only captures delays in the processes to be completed within states (i.e. upto the signing of the Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) by the second signatory), and not in those that are to be completed by the central government or the payment agencies (i.e. after the signing of FTOs by the second signatory and till the crediting of wages into workers’ accounts).

In gross violation of this order of the Court, the wages payments are currently frozen for twenty states and for some states such as Jharkhand and Kerala, wages are pending since more than a month. These are wage payments for which the FTOs have been approved by the first and second signatories; these are pending at the level of the Union Government. Non-payment of MGNREGA wages in a state reeling from a spate of hunger deaths, or any state for that matter, amounts to gross criminal negligence.

It is a matter of irony that the National Electronic Fund Management System, which the Ministry has repeatedly touted in the Supreme Court as a solution to wage delays, is a further cause of delays. Some state Governments, which have put in place revolving funds to tide over delays in fund releases from the Ministry, are unable to use these funds for wage payments due to the centralization of wage payments.

The Ministry recently issued a clarification citing delays by state governments in submitting audited reports and utilization certificates, as the reason for pending wage payments. But there is no legal compensation being calculated for these delays and paid for these delays as they take place after the signing of the FTO by the second signatory. Also, no punitive action is taken against states for causing delays in routine administrative tasks which are being cited as the reason for withholding wages of workers of those states. This stands in stark contradiction to the observation of the Court that, “when the rights of tens of thousands of people are affected by delayed payment of their legitimate dues, there is a clear constitutional breach committed by the State – be it the Government of India or a State Government.”

Violation of orders on effective monitoring of the programme

While commenting that the “effective implementation of the NREG Act will certainly not be possible unless these monitoring and reviewing authorities faithfully and urgently established by the Government of India and the State Governments”, the Court had instructed the Ministry to ensure the formation of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) and the State Employment Guarantee Councils (SEGCs). It is not possible to assess the adherence to this instruction as the Ministry has not uploaded on its website the status of formation of these Councils, schedules of their meetings or the minutes of these meetings. Reports from the ground indicate that this order stands violated across the country. For example, in Jharkhand, the last meeting of the SEGC took place in July 2016 whereas the Council is supposed to meet at least once in six months (as per the state rules). Also, many important decisions of this meeting are yet to be implemented. The Chief Minister of Telangana has not attended any meeting of the SEGC in the last three years. In Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, the Councils have been formed but remain dysfunctional.

Please click here to read more.

NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, 7 November, 2017,


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