[1]Supreme Court Issues Fresh Directions Under The Posh Act

The Supreme Court has issued certain directions to States and Union Territories (UTs) to ensure the effective implementation of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) and to render it workable, including:

• identifying a ‘nodal person’ within the Women and Child Development Ministry of every State/UT to oversee and coordinate with the Union Government on matters relating to the POSH Act and its implementation;
• each State/UT Government to submit a consolidated report of its compliance to the Union Government within 8 weeks;
• the appointment of “District Officers”. The District Officer’s role is pivotal in coordinating and ensuring accountability related to the POSH Act. They are responsible for appointing nodal officers in every block, taluka, tehsil, ward or municipality, constituting a Local Committee (LC), and forwarding the contact details of these nodal officers and LCs to the State Government Ministry of Women and Child Development;
• the State/UT Governments and Union Government are directed to set out the financial resources allocated and or needed to developing educational, communication and training material for spreading awareness of the provisions of the POSH Act to the public, and formulating orientation and training programmes as elaborated;
• annual compliance report should be collected from the employers by the District Officers and the District Officers to prepare a brief report to be shared with the State Governments; and
• directions to the concerned authorities are issued to monitor the internal committees and compliance by employers; and specific directions are issued to hospitals, nursing homes, sports institutes, stadiums, sports complex, or competition or games venues to establish ICs, and report compliance as per the duties under the POSH Act.

[1] W.P. (Civil) No. 1224 of 2017