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The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,
Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
("Act") under §4 mandates the
constitution of an Internal Complaints Committee ICC
("ICC"), for receiving and redressal of
complaints of sexual harassment. Per §4 of the Act every
organisation and/or establishment, employing more than 10 employees
is required to constitute such an ICC. §26 (1)(a) of the Act
lays down the penalty for non-compliance with the mandatory
provisions of the Act, including non-constitution of an ICC.
The non-constitution of the ICC in the quorum prescribed under
the Act, attracts a penalty, including fine upto Rs.50,000 and
twice the amount of fine on repetition of the same offence.
Further, the Act contemplates withdrawal, non-renewal or
cancellation of business licenses, as the case may be, for repeated
offence.
The courts in India have also repeatedly imposed penalty for
non-compliance with the mandatory provisions of the Act including,
non-constitution of ICC's. Despite the continued legislative
and judicial attempts to seek compliance with mandatory provisions
of the Act, in particular constitution of ICC'S as prescribed
under §4, the compliance levels remains unsatisfactory.
In another effort to secure greater compliance with the Act, the
employers in the State of Maharashtra and the State of Telangana
are now required to register their Internal Complaints Committees
with the State authorities.
The directives from the two State Governments have come in the
form of office orders issued by the concerned State authorities and
compliance with the directives is sought from all workplaces, as
understood and defined under the Act.
Under §23 of the Act, the Central and State Governments are
both empowered to monitor the implementation of the Act. Further,
in accordance with §25 of the Act, the Government is well
within its rights to call upon any employer or district officer to
furnish in writing information relating to sexual harassment, as it
may require. It is therefore mandatory to comply with the office
orders and the failure to furnish information or non-registration
of the ICC's could lead to a fine extending upto Rs.50,000 as
well as cancellation and/or withdrawal of business licenses.
Conclusion:
The efforts at the State Government level, are a part of the
larger scheme of securing compliance with the Act, which has still
not been achieved, even after 6 years of enactment of the Act. The
efforts of the State Governments are likely to secure greater
compliance and we can therefore expect to see similar office orders
and/or circulars from other State authorities, going forward.
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