Bombay High Court rules that internal committee cannot recommend disciplinary action where sexual harassment has not been proved

At a glance

• The Bombay High Court (Bombay HC) examined whether an internal Central Complaints Committee (CCC) could recommend disciplinary action despite concluding that the alleged conduct did not amount to sexual harassment under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act).
• Bombay HC held that internal committees cannot overstep their statutory powers and recommend disciplinary action in the absence of proven finding of sexual harassment.
• Any such recommendation would be ultra vires the POSH Act.

We would like to express gratitude to JSA for their contribution on this publication.

In Dr. Mohinder Kumar v. Chairman, NABARD and Anr., the dispute arose after the petitioner recorded videos of women colleagues allegedly disturbing the work environment by engaging in loud conversation and frivolity and forwarded them to his superior officers as evidence of disruption at work. Upon learning of this, the women colleagues in question filed complaints of sexual harassment against the petitioner, alleging discomfort and apprehension regarding potential misuse of the videos. The CCC, constituted under the POSH Act, held that the conduct did not amount to sexual harassment, as the recordings were not of a sexual nature, did not involve any sexual demands, and were also not misused in any manner. However, the CCC proceeded to recommend disciplinary action against the petitioner for engaging in objectionable conduct and for creating a hostile environment at work. Based on this recommendation, the employer issued an order of ‘reprimand’ against the petitioner, in the manner detailed under service rules of the establishment.

The petitioner argued that CCC had exceeded its jurisdiction by recommending disciplinary action despite explicitly finding no case of sexual harassment, and that penalty was imposed mechanically without independent inquiry. The respondent contended that the act of recording videos of women colleagues without their consent, irrespective of the intention, created an unhealthy work environment which justified the imposition of a penalty.

The Bombay HC confirmed that under Section 13(2) of the POSH Act, where allegations are not proved, internal committees are required to recommend no action. Accordingly, it held that CCC exceeded its jurisdiction by recommending disciplinary action after expressly ruling out sexual harassment. Further, the Bombay HC held that the employer’s reprimand order, being entirely founded on an ultra vires recommendation of the CCC and issued without independent inquiry, was unsustainable. Accordingly, the Bombay HC quashed both the CCC’s recommendation and the employer’s reprimand order.

This judgment reinforces that internal committees formed under the POSH Act are bodies of limited statutory authority. Once sexual harassment is found not to be established, such committees cannot travel beyond the confines of the POSH Act to impose or recommend penalties under the guise of maintaining workplace discipline. Disciplinary action, if any, must follow independent processes under service rules and cannot be mechanically derived from POSH proceedings.