Calcutta, Aug, 2 :    Calcutta, Aug, 2:  Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the chief judicial magistrate of Howrah to investigate alleged mismanagement at the district jail and furnish a report by September. A division bench, comprising Chief Justice A. K. Mathur and Justice J. Biswas, passed the directive after deputy inspector-general, prisons, Anup Tripathi, submitted a report stating that conditions in the jail had improved in the wake of corrective steps taken by the authorities. Earlier, a report was placed in the court by public prosecutor, Howrah, Chinmoy Chowdhury, admitting the allegations made by petitioner Subhas Dutta, general secretary of Howrah Ganatantrik Nagarik Samity. Dutta filed his petition in 1995, alleging that the jail conditions were unhygienic and illegal activities were carried out in connivance with the authorities. The bench, hearing the matter seven years ago, had directed the public prosecutor to furnish a report on the matter. The prosecutor, in his report on July 10, 1995, had said that the prisoners lived like 'cattle without food'. The report also revealed allegations of torture of prisoners, besides bribery and extortion. The report also admitted that the condition of the cells and kitchens were appalling and hinted that goons controlled the resources from their cells. The case came up for further hearing last week and the report of the prosecutor was placed in the court. On Friday, when the matter came up for hearing again before the green bench, additional government pleader D. Kar Gupta placed a fresh report by DIG (prison) Tripathi. In his report, Tripathi had said that conditions at the jail had improved after Chowdhury's visit seven years ago. 'Several steps were taken to improve the living conditions of inmates,' he said, adding that television sets had been provided in the male and female wards. 'Newly-admitted prisoners were given regular medical check-ups and ambulances had been provided for speedy transfer of sick inmates to hospital,' he said. Tripathi denied that wardens took money to allow convicts to meet their relatives. The DIG, however, admitted that the jail authorities had recently recovered some contraband during combing operations. After going through the report, the judges deemed it fit to appoint the chief judicial magistrate for further investigation.