WHEREAS The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013 has been enacted by the Parliament of India and the said Act has been given effect from 9th December, 2013. Thereafter Rules have been framed under the said Act, namely, The Sexual Harassment of Woman at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules of 2013, which has also been given effect on and from 9.12.2013.

AND WHEREAS this Act has been enacted to provide protection against sexual harassment of women at workplace and for the prevention and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.


AND WHEREAS Section 4 of the said Act mandates every employer of a workplace and/or the institution to constitute a Committee to be Known as the “Internal Complaints Committee” to deal with the complaints of sexual harassment in the manner as provided in the said Act, and the Rules made thereunder.
AND WHEREAS pursuant to the provision of the said Act the Managing Committee do hereby constitutes such internal complaints committee and the said committee shall function in the manner as stated herein below:

a. The Committee shall consist of 5 members including the Presiding Officer.


b. The said Act warrants that a senior female teacher of the School shall be the Presiding Officer of the said Internal Complaints Committee (hereinafter referred to as ICC), so in view of the said position Mrs. ______________ is designated as the Presiding Officer of the said committee on the terms and conditions as mentioned herein below :

In light of Section 4(2)(b) of the said Act Mrs. ___________, Mrs.________________ and Mr. _____________ who are our revered teachers of our School shall be the members of the said Committee along with Mr. _____________, who shall be a member of the said Committee in accordance with Section 4(2)(c) of the said Act read with Rule 4 of the said Rules. All these Members are appointed on the terms and conditions as mentioned herein below :

1. The Presiding Officer and every Member of the internal Committee shall hold office for such period, not exceeding three years, from the date of their nomination as may be specified by the Managing Committee.

2. The Member appointed from outside the school staff shall be paid such fees or allowances for holding the proceedings of the internal Committee, by the Managing Committee, as may be determined.

3. Where the Presiding Officer or any Member of the Internal Committee,-
a) contravenes the provisions of Section 16 of the said Act;
or
b) has been convicted for an offence or an inquiry into an offence under any law for the time being in force is pending against him;
or
c) he has been found guilty in any disciplinary proceedings or a disciplinary proceeding is pending against him;
or
d) has so abused his position as to render his continuance in office prejudicial to the interest of the school; such Presiding Officer or Member, as the case may be, shall be removed from the Committee and the vacancy so crated or any casual vacancy shall be filled by fresh nomination in accordance with the provisions of this section.

Complaint of sexual harassment :

i. Any aggrieved women may make, in writing a complaint of sexual harassment to this internal committee within a period of 3 months from the date of the incident and in case of series of incidents, within a period of 3 months from the date of last incident. The complainant shall submit 6 copies of the complaint alongwith a supporting document and the names and addresses of the witnesses. 

ii. Provided that the said the Presiding Officer and any other member of the committee shall render all reasonable assistances to a women for making the complaints in writing, provided further that the internal committee may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend the time limit not exceeding 3 months, if it is Satisfied that the circumstances is such which prevented the women from filing a complaint within the said period. 

iii. That on receipt of complaint, the committee shall send one of the copies received from aggrieved women to the respondent within a period of 7 working days. 

iv. That the respondent shall file his reply to the complaint alongwith his list of documents, if any, and name and address of witnesses, if any, within a period not exceeding of ten working days from the date of receipt of the complaint. 

v. The ICC may, before initiating an inquiry and at the request of the aggrieved women take steps to settle the matter between her and the respondent through conciliation, provided no monetary settlement shall be made as the basis of conciliation. 

vi. Where a settlement has been arrived at, as stated aforesaid, the ICC shall record the settlement so arrived at and forward the same alongwith its recommendation to the Managing Committee for taking action as recommended by the ICC. 

vii. The ICC shall provide the copies of the settlement as stated herein above to the aggrieved women and the respondent, provided that where the aggrieved women informs the internal committee that any term or condition of the settlement arrived at, as stated aforesaid has not been complied with by the respondent, the internal committee shall proceed to make an inquiry into the complaint and thereafter may forward the same to the police if the aggrieved woman is willing, provided in such case, prior written consent of the Managing Committee in this regard should be obtained.

c. Where the aggrieved Women is unable to make a complaint on account of her physical incapacity, a complaint may be filed by-

i. her relative or friend

ii. her co-worker, or 

iii. an Officer of the National Commission for Women or State Women’s Commission. 

iv. any person who has knowledge of the incident, with the written consent of the aggrieved woman.

v. any person who has knowledge of the incident jointly with her relative or friend or a special educator or qualified psychiatrist or psychologist, or guardian or authority under whose care she is receiving treatment or care. 

vi. where the aggrieved women for any other reason is unable to make a complaint, a complaint may be filed by any person who has knowledge of the incident, with her written consent. 

vii. where the aggrieved women is dead, a complaint may be filed by any person who has knowledge of the incident. In case the conciliation proceeding fails or no conciliation takes place, the ICC shall make inquiry into the complaint in the following manner : 

That the ICC shall sit together with the aggrieved woman and the respondent.

That the deposition of the aggrieved women shall be recorded in presence of the respondent. The respondent shall have the right to cross examine the aggrieved woman. 

However the aggrieved woman in support of her deposition may produce witnesses and the statement of the witnesses shall be recorded separately. Subsequently the respondent may cross-examine the witnesses so produced by the aggrieved woman.

Whereas the respondent in support of his defense shall make his deposition in presence of the aggrieved woman, and the aggrieved woman too may cross-examine the respondent on the basis of his deposition or may take assistance of any colleague. The respondent in support of his deposition may produce witnesses and the statement of the witnesses shall be recorded separately. Subsequently the respondent may cross-examine the witnesses so produced by the aggrieved woman.

That the copies of the depositions and/or findings shall not be handed over to the respondent, but if requested he may be allowed to take inspection of all such documents, on the date and time so fixed by the ICC. The respondent shall only be allowed to take note of the same by using pencil.

The I.C.C. would direct both the aggrieved woman and the respondent to file a Written Notes of Arguments. 

After going through the statements filed by the aggrieved woman and the respondent, the internal committee shall come to the finding.

Copy of the finding shall be produced to the aggrieved woman.

The said committee shall have the right to terminate the enquiry proceedings or to give an ex-parte decision on the complaint if the aggrieved woman and/or the complainant or the respondent fails, without sufficient cause, to present herself or himself for three consecutive hearings, convened by the Presiding Officer of the ICC.

Provided that such termination or ex-parte order may not be passed without giving a notice in writing, fifteen days in advance, to the party concerned.

Both the parties shall not be allowed to bring in any legal practitioner to represent them in their case at any stage of the proceedings before the committee.

In conducting the enquiry, a minimum of three members of the committee including the Presiding Officer shall be present. 

    During the pendency of the enquiry of written request made by the aggrieved woman Internal Committee may recommend  the school to transfer to any other work place or grant leave to the aggrieved woman upto period of 3 months or grant such other relief to an aggrieved woman, as may be prescribed by the Managing Committee.

     The Leave so granted to the aggrieved woman for the purpose as stated hereinabove shall be in addition to the leave she would be otherwise entitled to.

 On the recommendation of the Internal Committee the Managing Committee shall implement the recommendations so made and sent 

the report to such Internal Committee. ICC at the written request of the aggrieved woman may recommend to the Managing Committee to   –      

a) Restrain the respondent from reporting on the work performance of the aggrieved woman or writing her confidential report and assign the same to any other person.

 b) Restrain the respondent from supervising any academic activity of the aggrieved woman;

Q)      If the ICC finds that the charges leveled against the respondent have been proved, in that case it shall file a detailed report annexing the depositions so collected in course of the proceeding along with the recommendations, suggesting the steps or action which are required to be taken by the Managing Committee. It is further clarified that ICC may place any of the following recommendations before the Managing Committee  –

to take action from sexual harassment or the misconduct in accordance with the provisions of the Service Rule applicable to the respondent;

to deduct, notwithstanding anything in the Service Rules applicable to the respondent, from the salary or wages of the respondent, such sum as it may appropriate to be paid to the aggrieved woman or to her legal heirs, as it may determine in accordance with the provisions stated hereinbelow. 

DETERMINATION OF COMPENSATION :

1. For the purpose of determining the sums to be paid to the aggrieved woman as mentioned hereinabove, ICC shall have regard to 

Mental trauma, pain, sufferings, emotional distress caused to the aggrieved woman;

Loss in the career opportunity due to the incident of sexual harassment;

Medical expenses incurred by the victim for physical or psychiatric  treatment;

The income or financial status of the respondent;

Feasibility of such payment in lump sum or in installments;   

2. Notwithstanding anything contained in Right to Information Act, 2005, the contents of the complaint, the identity and addresses of the aggrieved woman, the respondent and witnesses, any information relating to conciliation, and inquiry proceedings, recommendations of the ICC and 

action taken by the Managing Committee shall not be communicated or made known to the public, press and media in any manner ; provided the information may be disseminated  regarding justice secured to any victim of sexual harassment under the said Act, without disclosing the name, address and identity or any other particulars calculated to lead to the identification of the aggrieved woman and witnesses.   

3.  Punishment for false or malicious complaint and false evidence:-

Where the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be, arrives at a conclusion that the allegation against the respondent is malicious or the aggrieved woman or any other person making the complaint has produced any forged or misleading documents, it may recommend to the employer, to take action against the woman or the person who has made the complaint, in accordance with the provisions of the Service Rules applicable to her or him or where no such Service Rules exists, in such manner as may be prescribed; by the Managing Committee in consultation with the I.C.C.

ii) Provided that a mere inability to substantiate a complaint or to provide adequate proof, need not attract action against the complaint under this Section:-

Provided that the malicious intent on part of the complainant shall be established after inquiry in accordance with the procedure prescribed, before any action is recommended;

 iii) Where the Internal Committee arrives at a conclusion that during inquiry any witness who is also a staff or a student of the school, has given false evidence or produced any forged or misleading document, it may recommend to the managing committee, to take action in accordance with the provisions of the Service Rules applicable to the said witness or where no such Service Rules exist, in such manner as may be prescribed.