BHUBANESWAR: The Cuttack administration has decided to stop the salaries of all employees of colleges and higher secondary schools in the district till they submit the mandatory compliance reports on constitution of internal complaints committees (ICCs) under the POSH Act in their institutions. Principals of the colleges will also face suspension if they fail to ensure that the directive is followed.
District collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde said the higher educational institutions have to ensure strict compliance of the government directive on ICCs and no delay will be tolerated in this regard.
Following the self-immolation incident on the FM Autonomous College campus in Balasore on July 12, the Higher Education department had on July 15 directed all colleges and universities in the state to submit compliance reports on ICCs under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, or the POSH Act, within 24 hours. The institutions were also directed to publicly display the names and contact details of ICC members for students’ awareness.
Subsequently, the Cuttack administration had asked for the compliance reports from principals of aided, non-aided government degree colleges and higher secondary schools and also sought details on complaints of sexual harassment made by students of the institutions so far.
However, till July 21, no institution except Mahanga Women’s College had submitted the report or case details following which the collector directed the additional district magistrate (ADM) and sub-collectors to withhold salaries of employees of defaulting institutions.
“Appropriate action may be taken against the head of defaulting institutions by withholding the salary of the entire establishment of the defaulting offices,” the collector’s directive read. In addition, college principals were warned of suspension if complete ICC reports were not submitted within 24 hours.
ADM Shibo Toppo said they have written to the heads of the institutions for the second time since July 15 seeking the ICC constitution reports, case details and action taken on such cases. There are 70 degree colleges and 131 higher secondary schools in Cuttack district. Following the warning, Cuttack City College submitted its report to the administration.
There are close to 1,057 degree colleges and 17 universities in the state and till last week, nearly 500 of them had submitted the ICC compliance reports.