BHUBANESWAR: The Higher Education department on Monday directed all the universities and colleges in the state to submit compliance report on internal committees (IC) under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013, within 24 hours.
In a directive to registrars of all public and private universities and principals of degree colleges (both aided, unaided and government) the department sought immediate compliance in complete adherence to Section 4 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act.
Under the section, every workplace employing more than 10 persons has to constitute an internal complaints committee which is responsible for addressing complaints of sexual harassment and ensuring a safe working environment.
The committee should have appropriate representation of women members and external representatives. The institutions are mandated to display the names and contact numbers of all the IC members at strategic locations on the campus for convenience of the students and upload details of the committee members in the department’s HIMS portal. The department has also asked the institutions to submit photographs of geo-tagged campus locations where the details of the ICs are displayed
Varsities & colleges directed to submit compliance reports
To sensitise students and faculty members, the HEIs have been directed to immediately organise workshops on the Act. The department also asked the institutions to follow the UGC (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in the Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2015.
The move comes after the FM College was found violating the mandatory provision on ICCs under the UGC regulations. The college lacked a functional internal complaints committee when the 20-year-old Integrated BEd student filed a sexual harassment complaint against her department HoD on June 30. It was constituted a day later.
Meanwhile, the UGC has also recently asked all the HEIs to provide reports confirming their adherence to guidelines aimed at preventing sexual harassment on campuses. The HEIs have to upload the compliance data for the 2024-25 academic session on both the SAKSHAM portal and the University Activity Monitoring portal.