CHENNAI: The social welfare department has released guidelines for submission of annual reports by the internal committees in companies under the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, 2013 (POSH Act). The guidelines have been sent to all district social welfare officers and they have been asked to create awareness and ensure that the reports are submitted by January 31. This has been done even as the state is yet to notify the rules for the act or accept the Central rules.
The guidelines state that the submission of the annual report is mandatory under section 21 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act and Rules, 2013. The preparation of the report, for each calendar year, is the responsibility of all members of the internal committee (IC) and it should be approved by everyone in it. It should be submitted by January 31 to the district officer/district collector.
Even if there is no complaint filed in the organisation during the year, the report should be submitted with complaints and other related columns reading ‘0’ or ‘nil.’ The committee should be transparent in the activities conducted and action taken, it said.
The number of workshops, training programs and people trained can’t be nil as it does not reflect well on the organisation’s ‘preventive’ measures which are also mandatory under the law. Quarterly meetings of the IC can’t be considered training programmes. Policy on POSH, training photos, quarterly meeting photos and display of IC details in the company may be attached. The law states the employer can be charged with a penalty of `50,000 for non-compliance and be charged with a severe penalty and/or risk suspension/cancellation of the license or registration to work, it further added.
The letter also asks the social welfare officers to facilitate proper submission of the report. It mentions that they have already been asked to collect details of the number of workplaces in their respective district with help of statistics and the labour department for keeping safety boxes to receive complaints from the women staff.
While activists said that it is a good move to introduce guidelines for submitting reports, they pointed out that Tamil Nadu is yet to notify the rules for the Act and urged the social welfare department to do it soon. “There will be thousands of companies in a district. With the social welfare department being understaffed already, it will be difficult to go through the reports. An online portal should be created for this purpose through which random checks can be carried out,” said an activist on condition of anonymity.
Activists also said that only a small portion of the workforce come under the organised section. “For companies having less than 10 employees and domestic workers, the women have to approach the local committees. Nodal officers should be appointed at the grassroots level to ensure that the committee is accessible and awareness is created continuously. There is still a long way to go to ensure that the act is implemented in its true spirit,” said another activist.
“The guidelines only provide a detailed version of the format that already exists in the central rules. The state has already formed local complaints committee and is implementing the law without state-specific rules. It has been 10 years since the act came into to force and the central act provides significant guidance on the implementation of the act. It is good that they have woken up to understand that disclosure of information is important under the law. We will have to wait and see how it is implemented,” said Akila RS, an advocate.