Provisions of POSH to be implemented uniformly across country, says Supreme Court

Issuing a slew of directions, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh said that the POSH Act must be uniformly implemented across the country.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that provisions of the POSH Act must be uniformly implemented across states and UTs, while issuing detailed directions to ensure its effective compliance to redress grievances of women at their workplace.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh emphasised the importance of pan-India compliance of the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act).

Taking up a matter related to compliance of its May 12, 2023 judgment and subsequent orders issued on October 22, the bench issued a slew of directions to ensure effective implementation of the Act, which includes the constitution of Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) for all government departments and public sector undertakings and  developing SheBox portals where women can lodge complaints.

The court said the compliance should be done by March 31, 2025, and the chief secretaries should oversee the execution of its directions.

Citing Section 5 of the Act, the bench said it is provided for the appointment of a district officer to look into the issue of complaints in the district, and a local complaints committee (LCC) have to be formed. The district officers have to appoint a nodal officer for them to take over the complaint and provide it to the committee.

The Centre’s counsel informed the bench that the SheBox is already there but the private sector is something the government has not been able to work with.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the bench said states/UTs should appoint a district officer in each district by December 31, 2024, and these officers will constitute LCC by January 31, 2025.

The bench directed the appointment of nodal officers at taluka levels and also directed that details of these nodal officers, LCCs, and ICCs, should be uploaded on the SheBox portal.

The bench emphasized engaging with the private sector stakeholders to ensure the constitution of the committee and adherence to statutory provisions.

On May 12, 2023, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre, all state government, and Union Territories to verify in a time bound exercise whether all the concerned ministries, departments, government organizations, authorities, public sector undertakings, institutions, bodies, etc have constituted sexual harassment committees. 

The court said it is disquieting to note that there are serious lapses in the enforcement of the 2013 Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act even after such a long passage of time.

The court's judgment had come on a plea by Aureliano Fernandes, a former head of department at Goa University, against the Bombay High Court order, in connection with sexual harassment allegations against him.