BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of Women and Child Development has recently asked the state government to appoint district, block and ward- level officers under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) to ensure effective implementation of the law.
In the state, collectors have been made district officers to exercise powers under the Act. Responding to the ministry’s directive, the Women and Child Development department has also asked the district collectors to form local complaint committees to receive complaints from women employed in smaller establishments with less than 10 workers, particularly in unorganised sector. The district-level officers have to spread awareness on the existence of local committees and make them approachable for the unorganised sector.
Sources said the directive comes in wake of Supreme Court pointing out last year that certain states have not bothered to notify district officers under POSH Act all these years which is why, victims of sexual harassment fail to seek justice. While the apex court mandated that the state governments should ensure that annual compliance reports collected by district collectors are consolidated and published in public domains, that is not being done in the case of Odisha, sources added.
A matter in this regard is pending in Orissa High Court which in December last year had asked the government to implement provision of the POSH Act in a time-bound manner.