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But the question arises whether the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act applies to the workmen employed in the stone quarries and the stone crushers. Now it was not disputed on behalf of the State of Haryana and indeed it was clear from the Report of Dr. Patwardhan that most of the workmen employed in the stone quarries and stone crushers come from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh and there are only a few workmen from Haryana. It is only if 5 or more out of these workmen coming from States other than Haryana are inter-State migrant workmen within the meaning of that expression as defined in Section 2 sub-section (1) clause (e) of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act that the establishment in which they are employed would be covered by the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act. It would therefore have to be determined in case of each stone quarry and each stone crusher whether there are 5 or more inter-State Migrant workmen employed in the establishment and if there are, the provisions of the inter- State Migrant Workmen Act and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Rules would become applicable to such establishment. The Union of India in a submission filed on its behalf by Miss Subhasini has taken up the stand that the workmen employed in the one quarries and stone crushers "are coming to join the service in the stone quarries of their own volition and they are not recruited by any agent for being migrated from any State" and "as such they do not come under the definition of the term" inter-State migrant workman. We would have ordinarily been inclined to accept this statement made on behalf of the Union of India, but we find that, according to the Report of Dr. Patwardhan, the modus operandi that is followed for the purpose of recruitment of workmen is "that the stone crusher owners or the lessees holders ask the thekedar or jamadar of the mine to fetch people from various States to work in the mines" and some times "the jamadar or thekedar communicates the need for workers to old hands at the quarries so that they could bring in people on their return from their villages or their respective States". Now if what has been reported by Dr. Patwardhan is true, there can be no doubt that the workmen employed in the stone quarries and stone crushers would be inter-State migrant workmen. The thekedar or jamadar who is engaged by the mine lessees or the stone-crusher owners to recruit workmen or employ them on behalf of the mine lessees or stone crusher owners would clearly be a 'contractor' within the meaning of that term as defined in Section 2 sub-section (1) clause (b) and the workmen recruited by or through him from other States for employment in the stone quarries and stone crushers in the State of Haryana would undoubtedly be inter- State migrant workmen. Even when the thekedar or jamadar recruits or employs workmen for the stone quarries and stone crushers by sending word through the "old hands", the workmen so recruited or employed would be inter-State migrant workmen, because the "old hands" would be really acting as agents of the thekedar or jamadar for the purpose of recruiting or employing workmen. The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act being a piece of social welfare legislation intended to effectuate the Directive Principles of State Policy and ensure decent living and working conditions for the workmen when they come from other States and are in a totally strange environment where by reason of their poverty, ignorance and illiteracy, they would be totally unorganised and helpless and would become easy victims of exploitation, it must be given a broad and expansive interpretation so as to prevent the mischief and advance they remedy and therefore, even when the workmen are recruited or employed by the jamadar or thekedar by operating through the "old hands", they must be regarded as inter-State migrant workmen entitled to the benefit of the provisions of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Rules. The Report of Dr. Patwardhan also points out one other aspect of the matter:

according to him, there is invariably "an understanding between the jamadar or thekedar and the owners of stone crushers holding leases of stone quarries as to the rate of output of stone to be fed through the crushers" and thus the jamadar or thekedar is clearly a 'contractor' of the stone crusher owners and the workmen recruited or employed by him on behalf of the owners of stone crushers are inter-State migrant workmen. We entirely agree with this view put forward by Dr. Patwardhan in his Report and we have no doubt that if there is any agreement or understanding between the jamadar or thekedar on the one hand and the owners of stone crushers on the other, that the jamadar or thekedar will ensure a certain rate of output of stone to be fed to the stone crushers, the jamadar or thekedar would be a 'contractor' and the workmen recruited or employed by him on behalf of the stone crusher owners would be inter-State migrant workmen. But whether in any particular stone quarry or stone crusher the workmen employed are inter-State migrant workmen on the application of this test laid down by us and if so, how many of them are such inter-State migrant workmen, is a matter which would have to be investigated and determined and that is what must be done if we are to make the provisions of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Rules meaningful for these workmen who are recruited from other States and who come to the stone quarries and stone crushers in the State of Haryana. We may point out that in addition to the rights and benefits conferred upon him under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act and the Inter- State Migrant Workmen Rules, an inter-State migrant workman is also, by reason of Section 21, entitled to the benefit of the provisions contained in the Workman's Compensation Act 1923. The Payment of Wages Act 1936, The Employees' State Insurance Act 1948, The Employees' Provident Funds and Misc. Provisions Act, 1952, and the Maternity Benefit Act 1961. The obligation to give effect to the provisions contained in these various laws is not only that of the jamadar or thekedar and the mine-lessees and stone crusher owners (provided of course there are 5 or more inter-State migrant workmen employed in the establishment) but also that of the Central Government because the Central Government being the appropriate Government" within the meaning of Section 2(1)(a) is under an obligation to take necessary steps for the purpose of securing compliance with these provisions by the thekedar or jamadar and mine-lessees and owners of stone crushers. The State of Haryana is also for reasons already discussed above bound to ensure that these provisions are observed by the thekedar or jamadar and mine-lessees and owners of stone crushers.

We are not at all satisfied that the stand taken on behalf of the State of Haryana that there is no bonded labour at all in the stone quarries and stone crushers is correct. The Report of M/s Ashok Srivastava and Ashok Panda shows that, according to the statements given by some of the workers, they were not allowed to leave the stone quarries and were providing forced labour and this Report also stated that several persons working in the Ghodhokor and Lakarpur stone quarries were forcibly kept by the contractors and they were not allowed to move out of their places and were bonded labourers. The petitioner also filed the affidavits of a large number of workers on 24th August 1982, each of them stating that he is under heavy debt of the thekedar who does not allow him to leave the premises without settling the account. We cannot ignore this material which has been placed before us and unquestioningly accept the statement made on behalf of the State of Haryana that there is no bonded labour in the stone quarries and stone crushers. But at the same time, we do not think that it would be right for us on the basis of this material to come to a definite finding that these workers whose names are given in the Report of M/s Ashok Srivastava and Ashok Panda or who have filed affidavits are providing forced labour or are bonded labourers. It is necessary to direct a further inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining whether any of the labourers working in the stone quarries and stone crushers in Faridabad District are bonded labourers in the light of the law laid down by us in this judgment. We would therefore direct Shri Laxmi Dhar Misra, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Government of India, who has considerable experience of the work of identification, release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers, to visit the stone quarries and stone crushers in Faridabad District and ascertain by enquiring from the labourers in each stone quarry or stone crusher whether any of them are being forced to provide labour and are bonded laboureres. While making this inquiry, Shri Laxmi Dhar Misra will take care to see that when he interviews the labourers either individually or collectively, neither the mine-lessees or owners of stone crushers nor the thekedar of jamadar nor any one else is present. Shri Laxmi Dhar Misra will prepare in respect of each stone quarry or stone crusher a statement showing the names and particulars of those who, according to the inquiry made by him, are bonded labourers and he will also ascertain from them whether they want to continue to work in the stone quarry or stone crusher or they want to go back to their homes and if they want to go back, the District Magistrate of Faridabad will on receipt of the statement from Shri Laxmi Dhar Misra, make necessary arrangements for releasing them and provide for their transportation back to their hromes and for this purpose the State Government shall make the requisite funds available to the District Magistrate. Shri Laxmi Dhar Misra will also enquire from the mine-lessees and owners of stone crushers as also from the thekedar or jamadar whether there are any advances made by them to the labourers working in the stone quarry or stone crusher and if so, whether there is any documentary evidence in support of the same and he will also ascertain what, according to the mine-lessees and owners of stone crushers or the jamadar or thekedar, are the amounts of loans still remaining outstanding against such labourers. Shri Laxmi Dhar Misra will submit his report to this Court on or before 28th February 1984. We may make it clear that the object and purpose of this inquiry by Shri Laxmi Dhar Misra is not to fasten any liability on the minelessees and owners of stone crushers and the jamadar or thekedar on the basis of the Report of Shri Laxmi Dhar Misra but to secure the release and repatriation of those labourers who claim to be bonded labourers and who want to leave the employment and go some where else. We may point out that the problem of bonded labourers is a difficult problem because unless, on being freed from bondage, they are provided proper and adequate rehabilitation, it would not help to merely secure their release. Rather in such cases it would be more in their interest to ensure proper working conditions with full enjoyment of the benefits of social welfare and labour laws so that they can live a healthy decent life. But of course this would only be the next best substitute for release and rehabilitation which must receive the highest priority.

We may now take up a few specific complaints urged on behalf of the workmen. The first complaint relates to the failure to provide pure drinking water to the workmen in most of the stone quarries and stone crushers. The Report of M/s Ashok Srivastava and Ashok Panda as also the Report made by Dr. Patwardhan shows that pure drinking water is not made available to the workmen. In Lakarpur mines the workmen are obliged to take water "from a shallow rivulet covered with thick algae" and that too, "after a walk over a dangerously steep incline". The same situation also prevails in the mine in the Gurukul area as also in the Anangpur mines and in these mines "quite often the upstream and the further down-stream of the rivulet get blocked due to mining of stone and the water becomes stagnant" and the workmen have no other option but to use this water for drink king purposes. It is true that in the lower reaches of Lakarpur near the road there is a tube-well from which the workmen get water but that is only when they are permitted to do so by the persons operating it. The Report of Dr. Patwardhan also points out that it is the children or women of the workmen who are usually engaged in the work of transporting water from distant places like the tubewell but they are not paid anything for this work which is being done by them. Neither any mine-lessee or stone crusher owner nor any jamadar or thekedar regards it as his duty to make provision for drinking water for the workmen nor does any officer of the Central Government or of the State Government bother to enforce the provisions of law in regard to supply of drinking water. It is clear that, quite apart from the provisions of the Contract Labour Act and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, there is a specific prescription in section 19 of the Mines Act 1952 and Rules 30 to 32 of the Mines Rules 1955 that the mine-lessees and stone crusher owners shall make effective arrangements for providing and maintaining at suitable points conveniently situated a sufficient supply of cool and wholesome drinking water for all workmen employed in the stone quarries and stone crushers. The quality of drinking water to be provided by them has to be on a scale of at least 2 litres for every person employed at any one time and such drinking water has to be readily available at conveniently accessible points during the whole of the working time. Rule 31 requires that if drinking water is not provided from taps connected with constant water supply system, it should be kept cool in suitable vessels sheltered from weather and such vessels must be emptied, cleaned and refilled every day and steps have to be taken to preserve the water, the storage vessels and the vessels used for drinking water in clean and hygienic condition. The inspectors may also by order in writing require the mine-lessees and stone crusher owners to submit with the least possible delay a certificate from a competent health officer or analyst as to the fitness of the water for human consumption. This obligation has to be carried out by the mine-lessees and stone crusher owners and it is the responsibility of the Central Government as also of the State of Haryana to ensure that this obligation is immediately carried out by the mine-lessees and stone crusher owners. We would therefore direct the Central Government and the State of Haryana to ensure immediately that the mine-lessees and stone crusher owners start supplying pure drinking water to the workmen on a scale of at least 2 litres for every workman by keeping suitable vessels in a shaded place at conveniently accessible points and appointing some one, preferably, amongst the women and/or children of the workmen to look after these vessels. The Central Government and the State of Haryana will also take steps for ensuring that the vessels in which drinking water is kept by the mine-lessees and stone crusher owners are kept in clea and hygienic condition and are emptied, cleaned and refilled every day and they shall also ensure that minimum wage is paid to the women and/or children who look after the vessels. The Chief Labour Commissioner, the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner, the Assistant Labour Commissioner and the Labour Enforcement Officers of the Government of India as also the appropriate inspecting officers of the Government of Haryana shall supervise strictly the enforcement of this obligation and initiate necessary action if there is any default. The Central Government as also the State of Haryana will also immediately direct the mine-lessees and stone-crusher owners to start obtaining drinking water from any unpolluted source or sources of supply and to transport it by tankers to the works site with sufficient frequency so as to be able to keep the vessels filled up for supply of clean drinking water to the workmen. The Chief Administrator, Faridabad Complex is directed to set up the points from where the mine-lessees and stone crusher owners can, if necessary, obtain supply of potable water for being carried by tankers. These directions given by us shall be promptly and immediately carried out by the appropriate authorities and Shri Laxmi Dhar Misra will, while conducting his inquiry, also ascertain whether these directions have been carried out and pure drinking water has been made available to the workmen in accordance with these directions and submit a report in that behalf to the Court on or before 28th February 1984.