A division bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji on Tuesday upheld a decision of the GAIL (India) Ltd to remove its chief manager (HR), Duraisamy Baskaran, who was accused of engaging in sexual harassment of the company’s female employees working in Hyderabad.
Earlier, on March 16, 2021, a single judge bench of the High Court had set aside the orders by the GAIL’s disciplinary authority and the proceedings confirmed by the appellate authority as the said proceedings were issued without initiating any disciplinary action against Baskaran.
GAIL (India) Limited filed an appeal before the division bench, challenging the single judge bench decisions. After hearing the arguments, the division bench concluded that a combined reading of Sections 11 and 13 of the Sexual Harassment Act does not require two investigations.
The bench affirmed GAIL’s decision to impose penalty, citing the Supreme Court ruling in Medha Kothwal and the rules of the field on this issue.