‘Fulfil promise to country’s working women’: SC’s stern reminder to central, state govts on PoSH

 Focusing on need for affirmative action, it directs ministries & others to ensure constitution of internal complaints panel — a key ingredient of Act that came into force in 2013.

BHADRA SINHA, The Print, 13 May, 2023, New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday directed the Centre, the states and the statutory bodies regulating professions such as law, medicine, accountancy, etc. to effectively enforce the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, or the PoSH Act.

Noting there were serious lapses in the implementation of the Act, it said the government must “fulfil the promise that the PoSH Act holds out to working women all over the country”.

It further directed the Centre as well as the states to undertake a time-bound exercise to ascertain whether all ministries, departments, government organisations, authorities, public sector undertakings, institutions and government bodies had constituted an internal complaints committee (ICC), one of the essential ingredients of the PoSH Act.

The court said it must be ensured that information regarding the constitution and composition of the ICC, details of its members, their email IDs and contact numbers, the procedure prescribed to submit an online complaint, as also the relevant rules, regulations and internal policies, are made available on the website of the organisation or institution or body concerned.

This information shall also be updated from time to time, the court added.

The judgment was delivered by a bench of Justices A.S. Bopanna and Hima Kohli while deciding an appeal filed by the former head of the department of political science in Goa University against the Bombay High Court decision upholding his dismissal from service on sexual harassment charges.

Setting aside the judgment of the high court, the SC remanded the matter back to the internal complaints committee to take up the inquiry proceedings.

In the case, the court said, the principles of natural justice were grossly violated and, hence, the matter should be reconsidered. It also recorded that there was undue haste on the part of the internal complaints committee in deciding the case.

A ‘social malady’

The bench said it was moved to issue directions on the PoSH Act after it came across a report in a national daily that said out of 30 national sports federations in the country, only 16 had constituted an ICC.

Writing for the bench, Justice Kohli observed: “This is indeed a sorry state of affairs and reflects poorly on all the state functionaries, public authorities, private undertakings, organisations and institutions that are duty bound to implement the POSH Act in letter and spirit.”

“Being a victim of such a deplorable act not only dents the self-esteem of a woman, it also takes a toll on her emotional, mental and physical health,” said the bench, noting that women are often reluctant to report such misconduct at the workplace.

“Many of them even drop out from their jobs. One of the reasons for this reluctance to report is that there is an uncertainty about who to approach under the Act for redressal of their woes,” it noted, adding “another is lack of confidence in the process and its outcome”.

Terming it a “social malady”, the bench said sexual harassment at the workplace needs urgent “amelioration” through robust and efficient implementation of the PoSH Act.

The bench called for educating the complainant about the import and working of the Act. For this, it added, the government must take affirmative action to make sure that the “altruistic” object behind enacting the PoSH Act is achieved in real terms.

“However salutary this enactment may be, it will never succeed in providing dignity and respect that women deserve at the workplace unless and until there is strict adherence to the enforcement regime and a proactive approach by all the state and non-state actors,” observed the bench.

The Act would remain an empty formality if the working environment continues to remain hostile, insensitive and unresponsive to the needs of women, the court said.

‘Need to create awareness’

The bench extended directions to statutory bodies of professionals at the apex as well as state level to spread awareness about the PoSH Act.

It further called for “immediate and effective steps” by authorities, managements and employers to familiarise members of the ICCs as well as local complaints committees about their duties and the manner in which an inquiry ought to be conducted on receiving a sexual harassment complaint.

Regular orientation programmes, workshops and awareness campaigns should be held to upskill the committee members and to educate women employees about the rules and regulations under the law, the court directed.

It asked the National Legal Services Authority and the State Legal Services Authorities to develop modules to conduct workshops and organise awareness programmes to sensitise the authorities, managements, employees, employers and adolescent groups with the provisions of the law.

The National Judicial Academy and state academies were similarly directed to include in their annual calendars orientation programmes and seminars for capacity building of complaint committee members in high courts and district courts.

Directing that its judgment be forwarded to the secretaries of all central ministries and the chief secretaries of states and Union Territories, the top court said there should be compliance of the same.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)