The division bench, which comprised Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, ordered that the committee will have a representative each from the Union government, the state government, the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and Accountant General (AG), West Bengal.

The BJP-led Centre and West Bengal government have been at loggerheads over pending dues under the 100-Day Work scheme. The committee members would visit sub-divisions in districts to check the enlisted job cards and prepare district-wise reports.

The direction from the High Court came during a parallel hearing of two separate PILs related to irregularities in the 100-day job scheme under West Bengal. One of the PILs was filed by Leader of the Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, while the other by West Bengal Khet Mazdoor Samiti, an association of agricultural workers. The court observed that genuine beneficiaries should never be deprived, irrespective of whether there had been corruption in the implementation of the scheme. The court directed that on the next hearing date, the central and state governments and the office of the CAG and Accountant General will give to it the names of the officers.

The BJP welcomed the HC directive. BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said there had been massive irregularities in the implementation of the scheme.The ruling TMC,  meanwhile, accused the Centre for not recognising the hard work of the government in implementing it.