Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday said that the Supreme Court verdict allowing the prospective implementation of MGNREGA in West Bengal from August 1 this year is a “supreme blow” to the Centre and a victory for the poor people of the state.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the Centre’s plea challenging the Calcutta High Court order, which directed that MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), the 100-day job guarantee scheme, be implemented prospectively in West Bengal from August 1, 2025.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta refused to entertain the plea filed against the June 18 order of the high court, saying the high court’s order did not warrant interference.
Describing the Centre’s actions as “the politics of punishment driven by a Bangla-Birodhi Zamindari mindset,” the party asserted that the top court’s ruling vindicated Bengal’s long-held position.
“The Court has said what Bengal has been saying all along — you can check, you can question, but you cannot choke people’s livelihoods in the name of oversight. The Court has upheld the Calcutta High Court’s verdict in its entirety, confirming Bengal’s stand as both legal and just,” the statement read. The party credited Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s leadership and the “tireless advocacy” of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for turning the dispute into a larger fight for constitutional rights.
Abhishek Banerjee, reacting separately, described the Supreme Court verdict as “another crushing defeat for the Bohiragoto Bangla-Birodhi Zamindars.” He said the ruling reaffirmed the rights of Bengal’s rural poor, who were punished for their political choices. “When they failed to defeat us politically, the BJP weaponized deprivation. They imposed an economic blockade on Bengal, snatching away the wages of the poor and punishing the people for standing by Maa, Mati, Manush,” Banerjee said, adding that the verdict was “a democratic slap on the face of those who believed Bengal could be bullied, coerced, or silenced.”
Earlier in the day, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta dismissed the Centre’s plea challenging the Calcutta High Court’s directive on the MGNREGA scheme. The bench reportedly asked the Centre, “Will you withdraw the petition or should we dismiss it?” before proceeding to reject the plea.
This effectively upheld the High Court’s June order, which had directed the resumption of 100 days’ work in Bengal and asked the Centre to release pending funds. The verdict clears the way for the restoration of the rural employment scheme in the state, stalled for nearly four years. The Centre had frozen funds in December 2021, citing corruption and misuse of funds, while the state government maintained that the move was politically motivated and unconstitutional. In its June verdict, the Calcutta High Court had stated that while the Centre was free to impose conditions to ensure transparency, it could not withhold the scheme altogether.
