NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed to establish internal complaints committees to report sexual harassment at hospitals, nursing homes, sports institutes, stadiums, sports complex or competition or games venues.
The order came while a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta was dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions for the Centre and states to take steps for implementing the provisions of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH) rules.
The apex court also said the Centre may consider amending the POSH Rules so as to identify one department and creating a ‘nodal person’ post within it to be responsible for the coordination required in implementing the Act, in order to ensure "greater uniformity in the implementation of the Act across the country."
In the judgement, the top court also issued directions for the better implementation of the POSH Act, including the Women and Child Development Ministry of every State/UT, to consider identifying a ‘nodal person’ within the Department, to oversee and aid in coordination as contemplated under the POSH Act
Principal Secretary of the State/UT, and the Centre, will personally ensure appointment of a district officer in each district within their territorial jurisdiction, as contemplated under Section 5 within four weeks of the judgment, it said.
The appointed district officers shall ensure the contact details of these nodal officers, and Local complaint committees shall be forwarded to the nodal person within the State Government by six weeks from the judgment
A circular/bulletin containing names of all district officers, and their contact details (phone, address, and email), along with a district wise chart of the various nodal officers and their contact details shall be available online, it was directed.
District Officers and LCs should be mandatorily trained and be sensitised to the nature of sexual harassment, the gendered interactions that occur in the workspace, it said.
Further it said, State/UT Governments, and Union Government to set out the financial resources allocated or needed, to develop educational, communication and training material for spreading awareness of the provisions of this Act to the public.
The court asked the Centre to ensure that it's Handbook for implementation of POSH Act is circulated among district and remote level officers.
