In a major “moral victory” for the Mamata Banerjee Government ahead of the next year’s Assembly elections the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an appeal filed by the Centre against a previous Calcutta High Court order directing New Delhi to release funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (100 days’ work scheme) that had been held back for the past three years citing massive irregularities.
The Calcutta HC has been actively pushing the West Bengal Government to release funds for court infrastructure development. Recently, the court warned of potential account seizures by the Reserve Bank of India if the funds aren’t released, highlighting the State’s obligation to fund judicial infrastructure.
The Centre approached the Apex Court against the order, and Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, hearing the matter on Monday, dismissed the appeal with a pointed quip, “Will you withdraw the case, or shall we dismiss it?” The TMC, which had all these years been at the receiving end of the judicial decisions — often related to corruption, and arrest of its ministers and leaders on graft charges — promptly hailed the Supreme Court’s decision, calling it a “historic victory.” Experts said the order could do massive good to Mamata Banerjee in the 2026 State elections.
TMC general secretary and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, hailing the order, said, “Another crushing defeat for the ‘alien landlords’, this is a HISTORIC VICTORY for the people of Bengal, who refused to bow down before Delhi’s ARROGANCE and INJUSTICE.”
He further continued, “When they failed to defeat us politically, the BJP weaponised deprivation. They imposed an ECONOMIC BLOCKADE on Bengal, snatching away the wages of the poor. We promised to fight for every rightful rupee, every honest worker, every silenced voice,” adding, “Today’s verdict is a democratic slap on the face of those who believed Bengal could be bullied, coerced or silenced.”
Senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh too hailed the order saying the “Centre had just out of its vindictive attitude withheld thousands of crores of hard earned money of the poor public … it was left on our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to somehow manage the funds from the State Government’s limited resources to partly clear their dues and this was direct kick in their hungry bellies and that sin has been set right by the honourable Court today,” adding “now the people will give the final verdict in 2026 elections.
The TMC had often claimed that more than Rs 1 lakh crore had been withheld by the Centre vindictively on account of MNREGA and rural housing schemes.