Jammu: The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer has constituted an Internal Complaints Committee under the POSH Act on October 30, nearly a month after an RTI application seeking details about the constitution of such committees in government departments was filed, the applicant activist claimed here.
According to the information furnished in response to the RTI application filed by Jammu-based activist Raman Kumar Sharma on September 26, the freshly constituted committee does not include an external member from an NGO or an association working on women’s issues.
The department also informed that 31 female employees are currently working in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and no complaint of sexual harassment had been received by the committee so far.
A POSH committee — officially called the Internal Committee or Internal Complaints Committee — is a mandatory body required for every workplace with 10 or more employees under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act.
The RTI application had sought details of government offices and government-funded bodies that had not constituted POSH committees, copies of the latest orders and guidelines on the subject, as well as information regarding the composition and date of constitution of each committee, the number of complaints received and their disposal status.
Sharing the official response dated November 4, Sharma said the information received from the CEO’s office provides insight into the constitution of the committee and also highlights the need for clarity regarding the mandatory representation of an external member under the POSH Act.
According to the order, the CEO confirmed that an Internal Complaints Committee had been constituted on October 30 with Deputy Director Information Salam Din appointed as its Chairperson.
Statistical Officer Sapna Raina and Election Assistants, Neelam Devi and Shufta Haroon, were nominated as its members. The order also provides for the co-option of another person by the chairperson.
However, the RTI reply stated that no outside member from an NGO or an association working on women’s issues has been included in the committee.
This raises questions regarding compliance with Section 4 of the POSH Act, which mandates the inclusion of an external member in the Internal Complaints Committee, the RTI activist said.
He said the RTI application was initially submitted to the General Administration Department (GAD), which forwarded it to all administrative departments under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act, 2005, on October 7 for furnishing the requisite information directly to the applicant within the prescribed time.
The development once again highlights the importance of statutory compliance and institutional accountability in ensuring that legal protections available to women are implemented at the workplace, he said.
Sharma thanked the CEO’s office for the step and said greater awareness about women’s rights at the workplace was needed across Jammu and Kashmir.
He said such committees should function effectively and women employees should be made aware of the mechanism available to them under the law.
