New Delhi: Despite two significant rulings directing states to fully implement the 13-year-old Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, states continue to struggle in stricly enforcing it across private and government institutions.
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) or (POSH) Act, a social welfare legislation, was enacted for creating a safe and protected environment for women at the workplace.
According to data placed before the Supreme Court last week, several states have not yet ensured formation of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), which is mandated under the law, to hear and decide complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace.
A status report, prepared by advocate Padma Priya, assisting the court as amicus curiae, indicates that all government and private establishments in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Assam, Bihar and Rajasthan have constituted ICCs in their respective jurisdiction.
As per the SC’s December 2024 judgement, the states had to complete district surveys and ascertain steps that are underway to constitute ICCs in the defaulting establishments.
The amicus’s report shows that such an exercise is completed in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. States where such a survey is still ongoing are Maharashtra, Nagaland, two districts of Punjab, Telangana and Arunachal Pradesh.
In Arunachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, ICCs have been notified in all government institutions, but the process is still incomplete in private establishments.
The status report was filed pursuant to the SC’s order of 6 January in the matter. It may be recalled that the top court had in 2023 issued extensive directions to states for effective implementation of the law, after highlighting serious lapses in the legislations’ enforcement.
In December 2024, the top court reiterated its concerns and began monitoring the compliance by states.
The amicus’s report also informed the court that barring two states, all have appointed nodal officers. As for Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, the report said the two states have not clarified the position in this regard. Sikkim has not notified nodal officers in two districts – Pakyong and Gyalshing.
Under section 6(2) of the POSH Act, the district officer has to designate a nodal officer in every block, taluka, tehsil (rural/tribal), and ward/municipality (urban). These officers are responsible for receiving complaints of sexual harassment and forwarding them to the Local Committee within seven days.
This section ensures accessible complaint mechanisms for women in the unorganised sector or small establishments and aims to provide a redressal process to women in rural, tribal, and urban wards or municipalities.
As per the law, a complainant can approach these nodal officers when an ICC is not constituted in the institution where she works and if the complaint is against the employer. The timeline mandates that the nodal officer must forward the complaint to the Local Committee within seven days.
To address the inadequate compliance of the law amongst the unorganised sector, the amicus requested the court to direct the states to ensure that details of nodal officers and local committees are published on their respective websites, apart from uploading the details on the SHe-Box portals.
The state affidavits, the report said, indicated steps to promote the SHe-Box mechanism, but the same did not contain details on how the states have ensured uniformity and public accessibility of this portal where a complainant can directly register a complaint against the harasser.
Launched in 2017 by the Union Ministry of Women and Child, the SHe-Box Portal provides a single window access to every woman employee irrespective of the organisation where she works. It tracks the status of the complaint and the action taken on it.
Taking cognisance of the data presented in the status report, the top court, during a hearing last week, imposed Rs 5000 on each defaulting state and fixed a three-week deadline to finalise the survey and operationalise ICC in all institutions.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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