Armed Forces Tribunal Can Hear Appeal Against Findings Of ICC Under POSH Act : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court recently ruled that an army personnel aggrieved by the findings of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) under the POSH Act can file an appeal before the Armed Forces Tribunal.

“Section 14 of the AFT Act, 2007 when read in juxtaposition with Section 18 of the POSH Act, we find that the appellant herein had rightly approached the Tribunal so as to assail the report as well as the recommendations of the ICC. The Tribunal ought to have considered the correctness of the said report in accordance with law.”, observed a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan while setting aside the Delhi High Court's decision, which held that the army personnel has no right under Section 18 of the POSH Act to approach the AFT against ICC's findings.

The case arose from a complaint of sexual harassment made against the appellant, pursuant to which an ICC was constituted under the POSH Act. After conducting an inquiry, the ICC submitted a report recommending disciplinary action. Relying on this report, the Naval authorities issued a show cause notice dated March 5, 2025, under Regulation 216 of the Navy Regulations read with Section 15(2) of the Navy Act, 1957, proposing termination of his services.

Aggrieved, the appellant approached the Armed Forces Tribunal by filing an Original Application seeking quashing of both the ICC proceedings and the consequential show cause notice. However, the AFT, by an order dated May 30, 2025, declined to interfere, holding that it would be inappropriate to intervene at the stage of a show cause notice and that the appellant ought to first submit his reply to the disciplinary authority.

The Delhi High Court, by its order dated July 10, 2025, dismissed the writ petition challenging the AFT's decision. The High Court also observed that the appellant had no right of appeal under Section 18 of the POSH Act, a finding which was directly assailed before the Supreme Court.

Setting aside the impugned findings, the judgment authored by Justice Nagarathna observed that the High Court had committed a manifest error in concluding that no appellate remedy was available under Section 18 of the POSH Act.

The Court noted that Section 18 of the POSH Act expressly provides a statutory right to appeal against the recommendations of the ICC before the “court or tribunal” in accordance with service rules.

“we find that the High Court was not right in holding that the appellant had no right under Section 18 of the POSH Act. We find that the Tribunal has not adjudicated the appeal filed by the Tribunal in terms of the Section 18 of the POSH Act read with Section 14 of the AFT Act, 2007...”, the court said.

Accordingly, the Court set aside the impugned orders of the AFT and the Delhi High Court and remanded the matter back to the AFT for fresh adjudication of the appellant's Original Application as an appeal under Section 18 of the POSH Act.

The appeal was allowed.

Cause Title: 42605-B CDR YOGESH MAHLA VERSUS UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS

Citation : 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 103

Click here to download judgment

Appearance:

For Petitioner(s) Mr. Sanjiv Sen, Sr. Adv. Mr. Akshay Bhandari, AOR Col Mukul Dev, Adv. Mrs. Shriya Gilhotra, Adv. Mr. Prahalad Balaji, Adv. Mr. Parimal Rai, Adv. Ms. Radha Gupta, Adv. Ms. Jharna Singh, Adv. Ms. Simran Gupta, Adv. Mr. Rajshekhar Rao, Sr. Adv. Ms. Gauri Puri, Adv. Mr. Harshil Wason, Adv. Mr. Kashish Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Yadav Narender Singh, AOR

For Respondent(s) Mr. Vikramjeet Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. Nachiketa Joshi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Aditya Kashyap, Adv. Mr. Santosh Kumar, Adv. Mr. P.V. Yogeswaran, Adv. Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, A.S.G. Mr. Shubhendu Anand, Adv. Mr. Rajan Kumar Chourasia, Adv. Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR Mr. Hrishikesh Baruah, AOR Mr. Yashaswy Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Kshitij Singh, Adv. Ms. Pragya Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Nistha Sachan, Adv.