State Legal Board agreed to depute lawyers to Tihar jail to assist In respect of prisoners who could be released on bail. Further, the Commission is systematically urging other States to follow through on t b Supreme Court's vitally important ruling. It recommends that action in this respect be taken promptly as serious issues of justice and rights are involved. 3.36 The Commission is gratified that certain State Human Rights Commissions are also pursuing matters relating to prison reform with great earnestness. For its part, the Commissfon has continued to organise visits to a number of jails in the context of complaints of mismanagement and custodial violence. It has, further, drafted a set of guidelines for the 33 jail visitors appointed by the Commission for the State of Maharashtra, pursuant to a decision of the Bombay High Court in the case of Muktaram Sitaram Shinde vs. the State of Maharashtra. The Commission has, in addition, circulated a set of guidelines with a view to better safeguarding the human rights of persons under detention, and it has continued to follow-up on a report that had been prepared for it which analyzed the causes of death in jail custody. The Commission is increasingly seeking to associate concerned sections of civil society with its work to improve conditions in jail. A particularly fruitful partnership is being developed with the Rotary Clubs in India as a result of initiativestaken by Its Member, Shrl Sudarshan Agarwal. (H) HUMAN RIGHTS AND ADMINISTRATION OF CRlMlNAL JUSTICE 3.37 The Commission has, in its preceding reports, expressed deep concern at the state of Administration of Criminal Justice in India. The phenomena of docket-clogging; inefficient, unscientific police investigations; the innate vulnerability of prosecutions which depend mainly on fragile oral evidence; inept discharge of prosecutorial functions performed by prosecutors not adequately trained and certain other systemic and logistic inadequacies characterize the present scenario. While the alarming failure of prosecutions holds grim portents for the future safety of society, the delays in criminal trials have produced an unacceptable level of undertrial prisoners who nor'comprise, as noted earlier in this report, over 70% of the total prison population. Their waiting period sometimes lingers distressingly to eight to ten long years. The criminal justice system Is increasingly becoming a teasing illusion. 3.38 The Commission feels that there is a general lack of perception of the importance of an efficient system of criminal justice to the economic development of the country. That is the reason why reforms in the criminal justice system are not a high priority with Governments. It is an illusion to think that sustainable development can either be possible or enduring without the recognition of inter-institutional complamentarities. A sound social infrastructure, the Commission perceives, i s as indispensable for economic development as economic infrastructure. Efficientadministration of criminal justice is necessary as much to provide the primordial need for maintenance of order in society and the protection of human rights, as for economic development. The sound administration of justice, both civil and criminal, is an