Bombay HC: Woman can appeal POSH panel’s dismissal of complaint – Times of India

Mumbai: A woman approached Bombay high court last year with a grievance that since the in-house panel in the company where she worked informed her “no action was required” on her complaint alleging sexual harassment, thereby dismissing it, she had nowhere to turn to. An HC bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Madhav Jamdar, in a July 8 decision, said the woman could file an appeal against the company’s internal committee (IC) report and order. Under the POSH Act, a complaint is first assessed by an in-house panel which also has a member from an NGO.
Her counsel, Mihir Desai, said there was no appellate body set up or notified by the state under the POSH Act or rules and hence she was constrained to approach the HC against the company to quash the IC’s report and order. She also questioned her subsequent “illegal termination” in June 2020.
The company, represented by counsel Birendra Saraf, opposed her petition and also questioned its maintainability given the provisions of the Act.
At a hearing on March 11, the state had said the POSH Act, under Section 18 and Rule 11, provides for appeals against the IC report. The HC had directed the state to give details of whether such an appellate authority was set up.
On July 8, the state’s assistant government pleader, Hemant Haryan, informed the HC of its March 31 notification. It made the industrial court in Mumbai the appellate authority in this case, he said.
The notification was issued by the state deputy secretary (industries, energy and labour departments) under Section 2 (A) of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946. The POSH Act’s Section 18 says any person aggrieved by the report may file an appeal to a tribunal within 90 days.
The HC bench did not pass orders on maintainability of her petition or merit and kept all such contentions open.