Sexual abuse committee must for companies

The Corporate Affairs Ministry has made it mandatory for the companies to make a statement in the report of their board of directors that they have complied with the provisions pertaining to constitution of internal complaints committee under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

The ministry has inserted a new provision in the Companies (accounts) Rules, 2018, in this regard, acceding to a request from the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry.

The revised rules, notified in an official gazette, comes into effect from July 31.

“This is a major step towards making the workplace safe for the women in the private sector,” WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi said, thanking the Corporate Ministry for accepting her request.

The minister said that she would now request the Sebi “to suitably incorporate” the provision for mandatory disclosure on constitution of internal complaints committee in the corporate governance reports of the listed companies.

“This will cast as ever higher responsibility on the directors of these companies for implementation of the Act,” Gandhi added.