MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(SHRIMATI MANEKA SANJAY GANDHI)
(a) to (e) : The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 mandates all the workplace which include any department, organisation, undertaking, establishment, institutions, office, branch or unit which is established, owned, controlled or wholly or substantially financed by funds provided directly or indirectly by the appropriate Government or the local authority or a Government company or a corporation or a co-operative society having more than 10 workers to constitute Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) for receiving complaints of sexual harassment. Educational Institutions are also covered under the Act.
The Act cast an obligation upon all the employers to constitute Internal Complaint Committee. If any employer fails to constitute an Internal Complaint Committee, or contravenes or attempts or abets contravention of other provisions of this Act or any rules made there under, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees. The Act has empowered Internal Complaints Committees to deal with such complaints effectively and in a time bound manner.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) had set up a Task Force to review the existing arrangements for the safety and security of girls and women in particular and of the entire youth in general on campuses of institutions of higher learning. The Task Force submitted its report titled as “Saksham- Measures for Ensuring the Safety of Women and Programmes for Gender Sensitization on Campuses” to the UGC on 30th October, 2013.
The recommendations of the Task Force have been accepted by UGC. UGC has notified University Grants Commission (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2015. These Regulations describe responsibilities of the Higher Educational Institutions, grievance redressal mechanism, process for making complaint and conducting inquiry, interim redressal punishment and compensations, consequences of non-compliance etc. UGC has issued advisory to all Universities to ensure strict compliance of these UGC Regulations in Higher Educational Institutions.
As informed by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), 10 complaints about harassment and sexual exploitations of women staff in Educational Institutions have been received. KVS has constituted the ‘Complaint Redressal Committee’ at Head Quarter level as well as at the Regional Offices to tackle the sexual harassment cases against the women employees. KVS also conducts various gender sensitization and awareness programmes through training/workshops.
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