Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, April 20: The Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to hear a petition seeking directions to address the situation of workers in the country who are covered by the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MNREGA), who claim that their pending wages are piling up along with negative balances in most states’ funds.
After advocate Prashant Bhushan, standing for petitioner NGO Swaraj Abhiyan, mentioned the matter for urgent listing, a bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana decided to list the case.
Bhushan requested that the matter be set for hearing since MGNREGA workers are not being paid. Swaraj Abhiyan had filed an application with the Central Government, requesting that all outstanding wage, material, and administrative payments be paid within 30 days.
According to the petition, crores of employees are in danger since cash-strapped states have accrued salary dues of Rs 9,682 crore under the Centre’s flagship 100-day job project MGNREGA, which has seen a rise in beneficiaries due to the epidemic.
The state governments were facing cumulative salary dues of Rs 9,682 crore as of November 26, 2021, according to the report, and 100% of the funds allotted for the financial year had been depleted.
The lawsuit alleged that under the MNREGA, wage arrears were mounting up because most states had not received appropriate funding. The alleged lack of finances was a flagrant violation of the law, according to the plea.
The NGO requested that the court issue urgent orders requiring the government to provide each household with 50 additional days of employment per year under the MGNREGA, accurately allow registration of demand for work directly on the NREGA Soft website and issue dated receipts, automatically calculate and pay unemployment allowance at 1/4th the wage rate, and compensate workers for wage disbursement delays.
