At a glance
- The High Court recently heard a case which clarified the position on whether an internal committee has jurisdiction to acknowledge complaints against individuals from different work places under the POSH Act.
Reproduced with the permission of Sonakshi Das at JSA law.
Recently, in Dr. Sohail Malik v. Union of India, the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi (Delhi HC) relying on the rules of purposive interpretation, upheld the applicability of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) where complaints of sexual harassment are instituted against respondents employed with different employer(s). Previously, the position on whether an internal committee had jurisdiction to acknowledge complaints against individuals from different workplaces was unclear. However, in the recent case, the Delhi HC clarified that there is absolutely nothing in the POSH Act “which limits its scope only to cases where a woman employee is sexually harassed by another employee working in her own office and excepts its application where the delinquent employee is employed elsewhere”. It further held that in such cases, an internal committee, duly constituted under the POSH Act, is not foreclosed from inquiring into complaints of sexual harassment instituted against persons outside of the “disciplinary control” of the complainant’s employer, and that it may forward its inquiry report to the respondent’s employer for further action.
For further information on the case, please see the note created by JSA law here.
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