KOLKATA: Calcutta HC Wednesday directed Centre to resume the 100 days' work programme in Bengal from Aug 1, saying the scheme could not be "put in cold storage for eternity", reports Subrata Chattoraj.

MGNREGS has been suspended in Bengal for close to three years.A person who obtained wages illegally or under fictitious names could not go free and had to be dealt with firmly, CJ TS Sivagnanam said. "But what about those who did the work genuinely?" he asked, observing: "A line should be drawn and a cut-off date announced."Centre could impose special conditions, restrictions and regulations to check irregularities and for recovery of money misappropriated in the past, said the division bench of the CJ and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee Das. There should be a "transparent procedure" to ensure disbursal of wages and utilisation of funds, it added.