Calcutta High Court on Thursday constituted two separate committees for conducting inquiries into allegations of a fake job card scam and discrimination in the distribution of the job cards under the MGNREGA.

“In the fake job card scam case, one representative each from the state as well as the Centre, along with a representative of the comptroller and auditor general, will conduct the probe,” said Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam, who headed a division bench that formed the committees.

On the alleged discrimination in the distribution of the job cards, the court held that a four-member committee would conduct the probe. The panel will have the representatives of the central and state governments, the CAG and the accountant general of India’s office. The names of the representatives of both the panels will have to be submitted to the court by Friday.

The division bench ordered the probes based on a petition filed by the Paschim Banga Kshet Majoor Samiti, an independent outfit of labourers.

The outfit had alleged that there was gross discrimination in terms of issuing job cards since they had not been delivered to the supporters of Opposition parties.

“The actual needy persons have been denied the job cards and persons belonging to the ruling party secured the job cards,” the organisation had alleged.

The leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, had complained that the state government had prepared muster rolls by including fake job cards to siphon off money from the funds allotted under the 100-day rural employment guarantee scheme.

He had said the Centre had stopped the release of further amounts because of alleged defalcation.

Reacting to the high court order, a state BJP leader said: “The committee would definitely find that lakhs of rupees were transferred to the bank accounts linked to fake job cards. Now, the state has to clarify why the funds were transferred to accounts linked to the fake job cards without verifying those. This will corroborate what the Centre had said earlier that a handsome amount had been misappropriated under the scheme in Bengal.”

Recently, Union minister for rural development Giriraj Singh had alleged that 25 lakh fake job cards had been issued in Bengal. But the Trinamul Congress had claimed that the maximum number of fake job cards in the country had been identified in the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Trinamul had asked whether any probe had been ordered after maximum numbers of fake job cards had been detected in UP and MP.