NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, INDIA of bonded labourers. The seminar was attended by representatives from concerned Ministries of the Central Government and State Government, senior officials of NHRC, National Commissions, State Human Rights Commissions (SHRC), Secretaries/Principal Secretaries from the Union Ministries/State Departments of Labour, Rural Development, Women & Child, Schedule Caste (SC)/Schedule Tribe (ST), concerned senior officer of all the States/UTs and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs)/academicians. 9.10 Based on the discussions of the National Seminar on Elimination of Bonded Labour System, the following recommendations have been compiled and sent to the concerned Central and State Ministries and Other Civil Society Organizations: i. Guidelines circulated by the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), Government of India on Identification, Release and Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers strictly be followed and there should be uniformity in identification, release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers in all cases and in all districts by State authorities. ii. Circulars/Guidelines regarding the claim of funds need to be followed by State authorities in order to avoid delay in release of funds due to incomplete documentation. iii. Guidelines may be issued from State headquarter to all the district authorities that utilization certificate of grants provided for the rehabilitation of bonded labourers under CSS should be sent to the MoLE, Government of India within a stipulated time without fail so that delay in sanction of further grant is avoided. iv. Timely disposal of all cases should be ensured for which NHRC has already directed concerned authorities. Strict Compliance to NHRC directions within the stipulated time may be ensured. v. Functioning of the Vigilance Committees (VCs): » The Chief Secretary/District Magistrates (DM) of all States must take necessary actions to constitute a VC which must function as per u/s 13-14 and ensure effective role of VC members. » The Chief Secretary/DM must also ensure that the composition of the Vigilance committee must have parity between the official and non-official members. vi. Low rate of prosecutions: » As per the BLSAA-1976, the employer, who keeps the labourer(s) in bondage is required to be prosecuted; but in actual practice, only a small number of employers are prosecuted and this number also varies highly from district to district. The process of conviction needs to be sped up for the bonded labourers to get their initial help. » The feasibility of de-linkage of ‘full rehabilitation’ from ‘conviction’ may be evaluated by the MoLE. vii. 122 Revisiting Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) with emphasis on welfare: The Bonded Labour SOP makes elaborate provisions for ‘First Information Report, Prosecution, ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20