The troubling practices of moneylenders and private financiers, employing coercive tactics, bring to mind the alarming negligence and arrogance exhibited by some Panchayat Secretaries in Kerala. These officials seem to be under the mistaken belief that they are not obligated to provide employment to members of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) if they fail to pay the user fee to the Haritha Karma Sena for garbage collection services. Such a stance is fundamentally flawed and ignores the basic tenets of the scheme, which is entirely funded by the central government, providing a daily wage of Rs 333 to its workers. It is common knowledge, even among children, that the Haritha Karma Sena's user fee is unrelated to MGNREGS. Why then, should these so-called "authorities" deny the rightful employment of scheme members on the pretext of unpaid user fees?

Under the Central Employment Guarantee Scheme, Panchayat Secretaries, as Scheme Registration Officers, are tasked with ensuring a specified number of employment days for cardholders in each Panchayat. It is appalling that these officials are attempting to deprive the poor, who rely on the employment guarantee scheme, by exploiting the user fee issue. This critical matter, which demands immediate intervention by the Local Self-Government Department and the State Government was highlighted by our correspondent K S Aravind, in a front-page news article recently.

The report also revealed that disputes over this illegal requirement are prevalent between workers and officials in many Panchayats. The state government had authorized secretaries to withhold services from local bodies to those who failed to present documents verifying payment of the Haritha Karma Sena's user fee. This policy was intended to enforce user fee compliance. As a result, applicants seeking birth, death, or caste certificates from local institutions were required to show proof of user fee payment. However, leveraging this government order to deny the legal employment rights of the poor under the guise of 'service' is unacceptable.

This situation stems from a lack of understanding of local institution regulations among department officials, leading to widespread confusion and injustice. The poor members of MGNREGS have done nothing wrong to deserve this treatment.

Misinterpreting the right to employment as a benevolent act of Panchayat Secretaries, many job cardholders have been unjustly denied work and turned away. The workers are not at fault for the officers' ignorance of the rules. They are entitled to compensation for the days of work they were denied. The state government must urgently address this issue by educating the officers about the rules or clarifying that the authority to deny services does not extend to employment guarantees.

This editorial calls for immediate and decisive action to protect the rights of the poorest members of our society and to correct the systemic failures that have led to this situation. The government must ensure that the principles of the MGNREGS are upheld and that no worker is unfairly denied their rightful employment due to administrative oversights or misinterpretations.