meeting was adjourned awaiting reports from the Superintendent of Prisons. It is therefore, humbly prayed that in such cases, a 2nd meeting may be held and recommendations to improve the conditions in the prison may be made. b) The State of Kerala may be directed to examine the recommenda- tions made by the Committees in all the districts and take appropriate de- cisions prioritizing the cases which are urgent and which need immediate action and compliance affidavits may be filed before the next date of hear- ing.’ 34. The State is directed to act in terms of the AC’s prayers extracted above and file a compliance affidavit before the next date. (III) WAY FORWARD 35. Upon careful consideration of the stands taken by the States supra as also the oral submissions of various other States made through their respective learned counsel, 4 For reference, the State of Kerala has 56 prisons. Page 14 of 17we are constrained to observe that the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations