Press Trust of India
New Delhi
Expressing concern over the lack of committees in government departments to probe sexual harassment allegations at the workplace, the Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and the state governments to undertake a time-bound exercise to verify whether panels have been constituted in all the ministries and the departments.
The top court said it is “disquieting” to note there are serious lapses in the enforcement of the 2013 Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act even after such a long time and termed it as a “sorry state of affairs” which reflects poorly on all the state functionaries, public authorities and private undertakings.
A bench of justices A.S. Bopanna and Hima Kohli said an improperly constituted sexual harassment panel would be an impediment in conducting an inquiry at the workplace as envisaged under the statute and the rules.
The apex court said it will be equally counterproductive to have an ill-prepared committee conduct a half-baked inquiry that can lead to serious consequences like the imposition of major penalties on a delinquent employee.
“The Union of India, all state governments and Union territories are directed to undertake a time-bound exercise to verify as to whether all the concerned ministries, departments, government organisations, authorities, public sector undertakings, institutions, bodies etc have constituted ICCs/LCs/ICs, as the case may be and that the composition of the said committees are strictly in terms of the provisions of the PoSH Act,” the court said.
The top court’s direction came while hearing a plea filed by Aureliano Fernandes, a former head of department at Goa University, challenging an order of the Bombay High Court regarding allegations of sexual harassment against him.
The high court had dismissed his plea against an order of the Executive Council of Goa University (disciplinary authority) which dismissed him from services and disqualified him from future employment.
The top court set aside the high court order noting procedural lapses in inquiry proceedings and violation of principles of natural justice.
“It shall be ensured that necessary information regarding the constitution and composition of the committees, details of the e-mail IDs and contact numbers of the designated persons, the procedure prescribed for submitting an online complaint, as also the relevant rules, regulations and internal policies are made readily available on the website of the concerned authority/functionary/organisation/institution/body, as the case may be,” the bench said, adding the information furnished shall also be updated from time to time.