74 : ABOLITION OF CHILD LABOUR AND BONDED LABOUR identified. Of these, 150 cases had been adjudicated and penalties to the tune of Rs.9,500 awarded. In 1998-99, 1,524 inspections were carried out and 601 charge sheets filed in the courts; 232 of these cases had been decided and the penalties amounting to Rs.83,650 had been imposed. In 1999-2000, 2,617 inspections resulted in 26 charge sheets being filed. A total of 126 cases had been decided and fines amounting to Rs.52,075 had been imposed. Labour Secretary himself admitted that the discrepancy between the large number of inspections conducted and the comparatively small number of cases filed, was because of evasion of the law. In many cases, the child labourers were whisked away when inspections were anticipated; in other cases, prosecution failed because of the manipulation of the age of the children. There is evident need for far greater care and circumspection and the handling of such cases and the Government of Rajasthan has been requested to proceed accordingly. 4) Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka 7.18 Shri K. R. Vehugopal, Special Rapporteur of the Commission inspected the goldcovering units in Machilipatnam of Krishna district and the auto units ofVijayawada district, Andhra Pradesh. He also visited the silk industry in Magadi where child labour was detected and Ramanagaram areas of I^mataka. This was done during the course of June 2000. 7.19 In July 2000, the Commission reviewed work relating to the release and rehabilitation of bonded and child labour in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with the senior officers of these States. The Commission emphasised the need for a convergence of the efforts of all the developmental departments in the rehabilitation of the released bonded labourers. It also urged that such efforts be backed by the pooling of resources from all sources in order to ensure the effective rehabilitation of the released bonded/child labourers. The Chief Secretary, Andhra Pradesh informed the Commission that action for the identification and rehabilitation of bonded labourers, and the formation of co-operative societies to assist them, had been taken up by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. It was added that, in the district of Mehboobnagar, 22 co-operative societies had been formed, while the formation of another 28 such societies was under way. Similarly, 12 societies had been formed in the Ranga Reddy district for the released bonded labourers. The District Collectors of the other districts of the State had also been instructed to constitute co-operative societies for those who were released. In addition, \rigilance Committees had been constituted in 19 districts and the Collectors of the four remaining districts had been NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION