Plea seeking remuneration under MGNREGA closed

This was concerning the provisions of Article 14 (State shall not deny any person equal protection of laws) and Article 23 (Prohibition of traffic in human being and forced labour) of the Constitution.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice A P Sahi and Justice Subramonium Prasad closed the plea on accounting for the submission by the Centre that MGNREGA is based on a work demand and a voluntary availing of such benefit by a person to augment his livelihood. Hence, the nature of activities envisaged under the Act are not exactly like the regular work being performed in any Government Department.

The bench then on observing that the scheme is a social legislation to accommodate unemployed youth by giving them a minimum of 100 days of employment, said, “The right, therefore, that could be claimed under the said Act would be governed by the provisions and cannot be construed to be a scheme or an Act for encouraging exploitation of labour.” “From this point of view, we do not find this to be an enactment that is bringing about any exploitation or compelling forced bonded labour so as to violate Article 23 of the Constitution of India,” the bench said.

It also held that the argument on the strength of Article 14 of the Constitution of India is also not well founded. It said further “The nature of the claim, the work and the projects that are to be executed have been clearly explained by the Secretary, Rural Development, to be of a different nature and not a regular workforce engaged for performing any regular work.”

“The two classes therefore being different, we do not find this to be a case attracting Article 14 of the Constitution. Having considered the submissions raised, we find that the purpose of MGNREGA is to extend a helping hand to the unemployed youth and is not to force unwilling labour on any person,” the bench added.

The petitioner A Mahaboob Batcha had contended that even though the purport of legislation is to lessen the distress of poverty by extending help to those who are facing unemployment, the Government cannot be allowed to take undue advantage of such a status so as to pay wages less than the minimum wages.