A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday issued notice to the State and Central governments on a writ petition filed by Disha, a non-governmental organisation from Malappuram, seeking to implement the recommendations of the Justice Hema Commission which had gone into the conditions of women workers in the film industry.
The petition pointed out that the committee had submitted its report, after conducting marathon evidence-taking measures, on December 31, 2019. However, the recommendations were yet to be implemented.
When the petition came up for hearing, State Attorney N. Manoj Kumar submitted that local complaints committees under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, had been formed in all districts and that 258 nodal officers were appointed.
During the hearing, the Bench orally observed that it was the prerogative of the State government to take a call on whether the recommendations of the commission had to be accepted or not. The court could not issue a directive to implement the recommendations.
The petition challenged Section 2(c)(ii) of the Cine Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1981, which fixed the wage ceiling at ₹1,600 a month.
