Legal Obligation to Constitute an Internal Committee
Every employer in India is legally duty-bound to constitute the Internal Committee in their establishment where ten or more persons are employed, as stipulated in Section 4 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act 2013 and the rules gazetted thereunder on 9th December 2013. The IC is constituted with a minimum of four (4) members—three from amongst the employees in the said establishment, and the 4th member (external) is a non-employee outsider with the prescribed aptitude, right attitude, and right approach so that they can discharge their duties, responsibilities, and role properly and faithfully.
Training and Capacity Building for IC Members
The said Act of 2013 stipulates that the employer shall organize orientation programs and capacity & skills building programs to enable the IC members to build necessary capabilities and competence. However, the prescribed mandatory programs, in some cases/situations, remain a mere ritual, a rigmarole, maybe a sham or a subterfuge, as it were, which surfaces when the findings of the IC are questioned/challenged in courts of law either by the aggrieved woman complainant or the respondent, and some recent judgments of the high courts serve as an eye-opener.
The Role of the External IC Member
While it is expedient to educate, orient, and train the IC members immediately on an urgent basis, the crucial role played by the IC member (external) cannot be and need not be negated outrightly. By virtue of the fact that the IC member (external), by and large, possesses the required experience of dealing with SH complaints and other complaints, they serve the IC well, in letter and spirit of the law. Whenever the employers constitute internal committees in their establishments or re-nominate IC members on the expiry of the period of their membership, the employers must induct/nominate an outsider non-employee as a member (external) of the internal committee as per Section 4 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (P, P & Redressal) Act 2013.
Qualities of the External IC Member
The IC member (external) is a person who is well-versed with the "issues" of sexual harassment of women at the workplace and the "phenomenon" of quid pro quo or something-for-something often resorted to by the harasser. This person needs to possess the following useful "capabilities" / "virtues"...
From India, Delhi
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206Every employer in India is legally duty-bound to constitute the Internal Committee in their establishment where ten or more persons are employed, as stipulated in Section 4 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act 2013 and the rules gazetted thereunder on 9th December 2013. The IC is constituted with a minimum of four (4) members—three from amongst the employees in the said establishment, and the 4th member (external) is a non-employee outsider with the prescribed aptitude, right attitude, and right approach so that they can discharge their duties, responsibilities, and role properly and faithfully.
Training and Capacity Building for IC Members
The said Act of 2013 stipulates that the employer shall organize orientation programs and capacity & skills building programs to enable the IC members to build necessary capabilities and competence. However, the prescribed mandatory programs, in some cases/situations, remain a mere ritual, a rigmarole, maybe a sham or a subterfuge, as it were, which surfaces when the findings of the IC are questioned/challenged in courts of law either by the aggrieved woman complainant or the respondent, and some recent judgments of the high courts serve as an eye-opener.
The Role of the External IC Member
While it is expedient to educate, orient, and train the IC members immediately on an urgent basis, the crucial role played by the IC member (external) cannot be and need not be negated outrightly. By virtue of the fact that the IC member (external), by and large, possesses the required experience of dealing with SH complaints and other complaints, they serve the IC well, in letter and spirit of the law. Whenever the employers constitute internal committees in their establishments or re-nominate IC members on the expiry of the period of their membership, the employers must induct/nominate an outsider non-employee as a member (external) of the internal committee as per Section 4 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (P, P & Redressal) Act 2013.
Qualities of the External IC Member
The IC member (external) is a person who is well-versed with the "issues" of sexual harassment of women at the workplace and the "phenomenon" of quid pro quo or something-for-something often resorted to by the harasser. This person needs to possess the following useful "capabilities" / "virtues"...
From India, Delhi
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