POSH ACT, 2013
Directions issued by the Supreme Court in Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa and Others, Civil Appeal No. 2482 of 2014, dated 12.05.2023.
The Supreme Court, in the above judgment, has issued certain directions to the Central and State Governments to ensure compliance by the ‘employers’ with the provisions of ‘The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013’ (“the POSH Act”).
Having taken stock of the manner in which the “mandate” of the POSH Act has been given effect to, the Supreme Court found it quite “disquieting” to note that even after such a long passage of time, there have been serious lapses in the enforcement of the Act. Taking cognizance of a newspaper report, the Supreme Court noted that 16 out of 30 National Sports Federations in the country have not even constituted the Internal Complaint Committee till date; and even where such committees have been constituted, they do not have stipulated number of members or lack the mandatory external member. “This is indeed a sorry state of affairs,” said the Court, “and reflects poorly on all the State functionaries, public authorities, private undertakings, organizations and institutes that are duty bound to implement the POSH Act in letter and spirit.”
The Supreme Court, thereafter, issued the following directions in Para 77 of the judgment which are as below:
1) That the Internal Complaints Committee as mandated under the POSH Act has been duly constituted;
2) Necessary information regarding constitution and composition of the Internal Committee, details of the e-mail IDs and contact numbers of the designated person(s), the procedure prescribed for submitting an online complaint, as also the relevant rules, regulations, and internal policies, is readily available on the website of the concerned Authority or Functionary or Organisation or Institution or Body, as the case may be, and is also updated from time to time;
3) Immediate and effective steps are taken by the authorities/managements/employers to familiarize members of the Internal Committee with their duties and the manner in which an inquiry ought to be conducted on receiving a complaint of sexual harassment at the workplace, from the point when the complaint is received, till the inquiry is finally concluded and the Report submitted; and
4) The authorities/managements/employers must regularly conduct orientation programmes, workshops, seminars, and awareness programmes to upskill of the members of the Internal Committees and to educate women employees about the provisions of the POSH Act, the Rules and relevant regulations.
The compliance to the POSH act will be strictly enforced and it is advised that employers must put their house in order at the earliest. #posh #supremecourt #compliance#sexual harassment #indianlaws#womenssafety