Overview

• The court’s June 18 directive mandates that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act work resumes in West Bengal on August 1, 2025.
• Judges affirmed the Centre’s authority to impose special conditions and restrictions to prevent the irregularities identified in previous audits.
• Funding was halted in March 2022 after inspections flagged discrepancies at 31 of 63 reviewed worksites.
• West Bengal has gone three fiscal years without MGNREGA allocations despite having 34 million registered rural workers.
• A parliamentary standing committee warned that the funding freeze led to increased distress migration and stalled rural development projects.