From Gender Audit Squads To IC Portals: Madras High Court Notes Sweeping State-Wide Compliance With Its PoSH Directives

The Madras High Court has commended the State of Tamil Nadu for implementing its earlier order to ensure the effective implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act (PoSH Act). Justice RN Manjula observed that the government has shown tremendous interest in ensuring that the court orders are complied with and that the State emerges as a model for other States to follow. “The overall response and interest shown by the State Government in implementing the directions is no doubt commendable. All the learned Government law officers under the lead of Advocate General and Additional Advocate Generals at Madurai along with the Public Prosecutor and various departments of the State, especially the department of Social Welfare for women and children have shown tremendous interest to ensure that many of the directions are complied by showing the State of Tamil Nadu as a model for the other States to follow,” the court said. The court added that each legislation brought in to prevent violence against women is not just a vow but an unspoken vow that the State has taken to see that such incidents are not repeated. It may be noted that in November last year, the court had directed the State to frame rules for effective implementation of the POSH Act. The court had also directed the State to conduct a study on the feasibility of having a separate department for women empowerment, noting that the Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department was already saddled with many responsibilities. Among other directions, the court had also directed the State Government to create an official website, giving reference to each of the Complaints Committee and to create a dashboard to provide information about the number of committees, details of the members in the committee, number of complaints received, number of complaints resolved, number of reports submitted and the details of action taken. When the matter was taken up recently for reporting compliance, the State informed that since it had been given limited powers under the POSH Act, it could not bring in separate rules for the implementation of the Act. However, the state informed that it had issued an exhaustive Standard Operating Procedure, and a Government Order had also been issued in this regard. The Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department also submitted a report stating that 22,044 Internal Committees have been formed in Government establishments and 34,907 in private establishments, making a total of 56,951. It was also submitted that the details of 41,103 Internal Committees has been uploaded in the TN POSH Portal and the remaining would be uploaded soon. The state further submitted that the Administrative departments and Head of departments have been directed to authorise officers within their local jurisdiction to inspect workplaces and ensure compliance with the provisions of the Act.The State also submitted that a Government Order had been issued by the Finance (OP-M) department, to form Gender Sensitivity Audit Squads to inspect workplaces and assess employee behaviour using a customized tool, and to recommend action if the sensitivity was below the required level. It was submitted that all PSUs and organizations under the control of the Industries Investment Promotion and Commerce Department were directed to implement these provisions. The State also submitted that the State Level Technical Committee is conducting gender sensitisation programmes and was taking initiatives to frame modules suiting to the requirements of each and every department or institution and train/sensitise them. With respect to having a separate department, the court was informed that earlier, the Commissionerate of Social Welfare was integrated with other departments for Differently Abled Welfare, Child Welfare & Special Services and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). However, the state submitted that these functions were now restructured, and separate departments had been created. The State informed the court that at present, the Social Welfare Department primarily handles only matters relating to Women Welfare, Senior Citizens Welfare, the noon meal programme, prevention of child marriage, and schemes related to child welfare. The court was also informed that the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education has constituted a Health and Wellness Curriculum Committee comprising experts from diverse medical and social science backgrounds who were developing a comprehensive Higher Educational Institutions curriculum addressing physical, mental and sexual health and well-being of students in Higher Educational Institutions. The court was also informed that the curriculum would also deal with gender sensitisation and age-appropriate sexual education. Appreciating the steps taken by the State, the court disposed of the...

From Gender Audit Squads To IC Portals: Madras High Court Notes Sweeping State-Wide Compliance With Its PoSH Directives

Upasana Sajeev

Tags