Maharashtra and Telangana: State governments mandate registration of internal committee constituted under POSH Act

As per the Sexual Harassment of Women (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (PoSH Act) read with the Sexual Harassment of Women (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules 2013 (Rules), every employer including Government/Non-Government organisation employing ten or more employees is required to constitute an Internal Committee (IC) for enquiring into complaints of sexual harassment filed by any woman at workplace.

Recently, the Women Development and Child Welfare Department, Government of Telangana has issued a general notice dated 1 July 2019 in print media wherein the establishments in Telangana employing ten or more employees are now required to register their IC with the State Shebox portal latest by 15 July 2019. The web-portal for the registration of the IC is as follows: https://tshebox.tgwdcw.in/

Similarly, the Women Development and Child Development Department, Government of Maharashtra has issued a general letter mandating all establishments in Maharashtra to constitute and register their IC constituted as per PoSH Act. In this regard, the employers are required to fill in the details of their IC in the prescribed form and submit it with the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Old Custom House, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400001 on or before 20 July 2019.

Further, both directives stipulate that any failure by employers in the State of Maharashtra and Telangana to comply with the above requirement, shall be punishable with INR 50,000. However, such punishment being prescribed for non-registration of IC is questionable in the absence of any registration requirement under the PoSH Act and Rules. 

• Anshul Prakash (Partner) and Abhisek Choudhury (Associate)

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