Complaint Mechanism Legal Provisions

Complaint Mechanism Legal Provisions– The Act contemplates the constitution of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) (Sec. 4) at the workplace and Local Complaints Committee (“LCC”) at district and block levels (Sec. 6). A District Officer (District Collector or Deputy Collector) shall be responsible for facilitating and monitoring the activities under the Act.

Further, one-half of the members must be women. LCCs are to be set up by the appropriate government which shall receive complaints in respect of establishments that do not have ICCs on account of having fewer than 10 employees and to receive complaints from domestic workers.

Steps involved in the Complaint Process

First Step – A complaint is to be made in writing by an aggrieved woman within 3 months of the date of the incident.

Second Step – Upon receipt of the complaint, the ICC or LCC must proceed to make an inquiry in accordance with the service rules applicable to the respondent or in their absence, in accordance with rules framed under the Act.

Third Step The inquiry must be completed within a period of 90 days. In case of a complaint by a domestic worker, if in the opinion of the LCC a prima facie case exists, the LCC is required to forward the complaint to the police to register a case under the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Step IV – Where the ICC finds that the allegations against the respondent are proven, it must submit a report to the employer to:

(i) take action for sexual harassment as a misconduct in accordance with the provisions of the applicable service rules or where no service rules exist, in accordance with rules framed under the Act;

(ii) to deduct from the salary or wages of the respondent such sum as it may consider appropriate to be paid to the aggrieved woman or to her legal heirs.

Step V – The employer must act on these recommendations within 60 days.

Scope for Conciliation and Settlement

Before initiating an inquiry, the ICC or LCC may, at the request of the aggrieved woman, take steps to arrive at a settlement between the parties. However, no monetary settlement can be made as the basis of such conciliation (Sec. 10(1)).

In case the ICC or LCC is of the view that a malicious or false complaint has been made, it may recommend that a penalty be levied on the complainant in accordance with the applicable service rules (Section – 14).

However, an inquiry must be also made. Mere inability to substantiate a complaint will not attract action under this provision.

Complaint as per Act

As per the PoSH Act, sections on the complaint of sexual harassment are listed below:

Section 9 Complaint of sexual harassment

Sub-section 1. Any aggrieved woman may make, in writing, a complaint of sexual harassment at the workplace to the Internal Committee if so constituted, or the Local Committee, in case it is not so constituted, within a period of three months from the date of the incident and in case of a series of incidents, within a period of three months from the date of the last incident.

Sub-section 2. Where the aggrieved woman is unable to make a complaint on account of her physical or mental incapacity or death or otherwise, her legal heir or such other person as may be prescribed may make a complaint under this section.

 

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