Authority formed against sexual harassment at workplace

A State-level Competent Authority has been formed under the Additional Chief Secretary to curb sexual harassment against women at workplace.

According to Women and Child Development Minister Umashree, representatives from the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Women and Child Development department, Information Technology and Bio-technology, Transport, Commercial Tax, Law, Health and Family Welfare, Labour, Public Instruction, and Information and Public Relations departments; along with representatives from the National Law School of India University will be members of the Authority.

The Competent Authority will meet regularly and look into harassments against women at the workplace. To tackle sexual harassment at the district level, committees will be formed under the leadership of the deputy commissioners.

In-house committees against sexual harassment should be formed in all government, semi-government and private offices. Any woman, who is sexual harassed at workplace, should complain within three months of the incident, stated Umashree in an official release.
In the case of repeated harassment, the complaint should be lodged within three months of the latest act.

If for some inexplicable reason the complaint cannot be given within three months it should be lodged within six months, said the release.