The Government of India, through the Ministry of Women and Child Development, issued Department Circular No. 19-8 2014-WW, dated October 27, 2014 (“Department Circular”) regarding the implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013. This Department Circular clarifies that ‘the Act casts an obligation upon all the organizations (whether private or public sector) having more than 10 workers to constitute Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) for receiving complaints of sexual harassment.’ It also states that the ICC and Local Complaints Committee (LCC) shall prepare an annual report and submit the same to the employer or district officer, who in turn will forward a brief report on the total annual reports so received to the state government authorized to monitor the implementation of the Act and maintain data on the number of cases filed and disposed of.
It further goes on to say that the Department of Women and Child Development in every state or union territory is required to collate this information from various government departments, public sector undertakings, and private institutions for the first time for one and a half years since the Act came into force and at least every six months in the future and forward the same to the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Please click here to view the Department Circular dated October 27, 2014.