All About The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) - Ipleaders
All About The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) - Ipleaders
This article is written by Sarthak Kulshrestha, a BA.LLB student from Jagran Lakecity
University, Bhopal. The article explains the nature and working of the sexual harassment
committees constituted under the Sexual Harassment Act and everything about the
Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Origin of the law on sexual harassment
3. Constitution of sexual harassment committees under POSH Act
3.1. Composition of the Internal Complaints Committee
3.2. Disqualification of the Internal Complaints Committee members
3.3. Powers and responsibilities of the Internal Complaints Committee
3.4. Complaint mechanism
4. Procedure for filing a complaint and conducting the enquiry
4.1. Inquiry procedure
5. Local Complaints Committee (LCC)
5.1. Submission of an annual report
6. Conclusion
7. References
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Introduction
We often read the news headlines like, “Parlour owner booked for sexual harassment of
an employee in Chennai”, “Law firm intern committed suicide after filing a sexual
harassment complaint against seniors”. Such headlines make us aware of the general
scenario of the workplaces of our country where women have to face sexual
harassment.
This issue had been considered to be of great concern by the judiciary, and thereby it
took some steps to reduce harassment cases and make the working environment more
comfortable for women. Apart from the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court of India
in this regard, which has been discussed further in this article, the government had
introduced a law against sexual harassment, it is known as the Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013, (POSH Act).
Under this Act, there are provisions that call for a sexual harassment committee to be
set up in every workplace so that there can be frequent reporting of the harassment
cases. This article explains the functioning of those sexual harassment committees that
work to assist aggrieved women and further elucidates some provisions of the POSH Act.
Based on the facts of the above case, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by
Vishaka and other women groups against the State of Rajasthan and Union of India
before the Supreme Court. It proposed that sexual harassment be recognized as a
violation of women’s fundamental right to equality and that all workplaces be made
accountable and responsible to protect these rights of concerned women.
Therefore, in the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India, Vishaka & Ors. v.
the State of Rajasthan (1997), the Court formulated some guidelines upholding the
Constitutional spirit and accorded it with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The Supreme Court defined sexual harassment as any unwelcome, sexually determined
physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct. For example, sexually suggestive remarks about
women, demands for sexual favours, and sexually offensive visuals in the workplace. The
definition was wide enough to cover those situations as well where a woman could be
disadvantaged in her workplace due to threats relating to employment decisions that
could create a negative impact on her working life. It placed responsibility on employers
to ensure that women did not face a hostile environment. It directed for the
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The Supreme Court raised the responsibility of the employers and workplace institutions
to uphold the rights and dignity of women at the workplace. Three key obligations were
imposed on institutions to meet that standard, namely:
Prohibition
Prevention
Redressal
In 2013, the Government of India notified the POSH Act, 2013. Consistent with the
Vishaka judgment, the Act aspires to ensure women’s right to workplace equality, free
from sexual harassment through the above-mentioned three elements.
The POSH Act requires the employer to specify the term of office of the members of the
ICC, which should not be more than three years from the date of their nomination.
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In Shobha Goswami v. the State of Uttar Pradesh and Others (2015), the Allahabad High
Court pondered upon the seniority criteria to become eligible to Preside over the ICC. In
this case, the respondent alleged that the Presiding officer was his subordinate and was
not fulfilling the criteria of becoming the Chairperson of the ICC. But, the High Court
rejected the argument and came with the interpretation that the Chairperson should be
senior to the employee against whom the complaint of sexual harassment has been filed
and held that the seniority of the Chairperson was valid in that particular case.
The POSH Act also contains the provision for the situation in which there is no senior-
level female employee available to fulfil the criteria to chair the ICC. In that case, the
employer is free to nominate any such female employee from any of its other offices or
workplace, as provided under Section 4(2) of the said Act.
Two members amongst the employees – They can be preferred by choice based
on their social work or legal knowledge or the ones who are committed to the cause of
women. However, practically it is not easy to find employees with such qualifications.
So, as per the requirement, the POSH Act provides for organising camps and
orientation programs to make the employees knowledgeable and aware of the duties
they need to perform as members of the ICC.
In the given case, the external member so-appointed was neither working for an NGO
nor had any prior experience in dealing with harassment or other similar social issues for
the cause of women. He was just a lawyer, so he could be eligible to become an external
member of the Local Complaints Committee (LCC), but not an external member of the
ICC.
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If a member has been found guilty of an offence under any of the disciplinary
proceedings.
Empowered to initiate the inquiry on the complaint filed against sexual harassment.
It has the power to collect the evidence and summon the witnesses.
It can also recommend the measures and actions to be taken to try another such case
in the future.
There are certain responsibilities of the ICC to serve the objective of the POSH Act which
are as follows:
Initiate the inquiry and submit the findings from the inquiry done.
Complaint mechanism
After understanding the functioning of the ICC, let us see, how a complaint can be filed
by the aggrieved woman against sexual harassment at the workplace. There is a linear
complaint mechanism through which the complaints get filed and the ICC performs its
functions, thereby required actions are taken.
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1. The complainant is supposed to file the complaint in writing and submit the same
before the ICC within three months of the date of the incident or the series of
incidents in which the last one happened. The Chairperson is empowered to obtain the
complaint in writing by providing all assistance to the complainant.
2. The committee can also extend the time limit to more than three months for filing the
complaint in writing, only if it is satisfied by the circumstances due to which it might
not be possible for the complainant to do the same within the said period.
3. The complainant can also send the complaint to any committee member via email.
4. Filing of a written complaint is mandatory which should include full name with other
necessary details of the incident(s) of sexual harassment.
5. In case the complainant is not able to file a complaint by herself, her legal heirs,
spouse, or parents can file the same.
6. A third person can also be the complainant provided that a written complaint must be
filed by the one who has been subject to sexual harassment.
Image source:
https://cus.ac.in/images/content/static/functionalbody/1116ProcedureforSubmissionEnq
uiryRedressalofComplaints.pdf
Inquiry procedure
Generally, the inquiry must be initiated by the ICC as soon as the complaint has been
filed and taken into notice by the committee. The ICC is also supposed to give a chance
to the complainant and respondent to represent their case regarding the matter. Below is
the procedure of inquiry on the case of sexual harassment:
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The ICC must, within 7 working days after receiving the complaint needs to forward
one copy each to the respondent and ask for his response
The respondent would have 10 working days to submit his response to the complaint
and he can also attach some relevant documents or witnesses to his reply.
The ICC shall hear both the complainant and the respondent on the stipulated date(s)
and the principles of natural justice will be followed accordingly. Neither of the parties
can represent themselves by a legal practitioner.
The process of inquiry shall be completed by the ICC within 90 days from the date on
which the complaint was received.
During the procedure of the inquiry, the ICC may recommend the employer to provide
some interim relief to the victim as per her request only. The committee can ask the
employer to transfer her to some other workplace, or grant her leave for not more than
3 months, or to restrain the respondent from reporting on the performance of the
complainant.
So, the POSH Act provides for the Local Complaints Committee (LCC) which is
constituted under Section 6 of the said Act. According to this section, the LCC must be
formed by the District Officer for the whole district. The District Officer must designate
one nodal officer in every block, taluka, & tehsil in the rural or tribal area and ward or
municipality in the urban area. The nodal officer so appointed would be bound to receive
complaints and forward the same to the concerned LCC within seven days. The LCC
would receive complaints of sexual harassment from the following:
3. Employees from organisations with more than ten employees but if the complaint is
against the employer himself.
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Conclusion
The issue of sexual harassment of women at the workplace has been very
comprehensively addressed by the governmental authorities. The committees which the
POSH Act has constituted are thorough. The functions of ICC and its powers make it
possible to address the serious issue of sexual harassment comfortably. A limited time
frame is also stipulated to carry out the inquiry procedure properly so that the problems
could not last very long and the aggrieved individual can stop compromising with her
fundamental rights. Both ICC and LCC aim to achieve the three objectives of the Act, i.e.
Prohibition, Prevention and Redressal of the problem of sexual harassment and let the
women work with dignity in a comfortable environment upholding the constitutional
spirit.
References
1. https://indiankanoon.org/
2. https://www.mondaq.com/india/discrimination-disability-sexual-
harassment/776002/constitution-of-icc-under-the-posh-act
3. https://muds.co.in/internal-complaints-committee-members-training-certification/
4. https://cus.ac.in/images/content/static/functionalbody/1116ProcedureforSubmissionEnqu
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Jayantika Ganguly Director - Corporate Courses & Special Projects (former Principal Associate
at Khaitan and JSA)
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