The sexual harassment act is an act created to protect working women from sexual harassment at their workplace. sexual harassment violates a woman's fundamental rights to equality under the Constitution of India's articles 14 and 15, as well as her right to life and to live with dignity under article 21 of the Constitution, as well as her right to practice any profession or to engage in any occupation, trade, or business, which includes right to a secure environment free from sexual harassment; and whereas the prohibition against sexual harassment and the right to work with dignity both result in violations of these fundamental rights;

The act basically extends to providing appropriate resolutions to the matters/complaints of sexual harassment, as well as issues related to those incidents or complaints by creating an internal/local committee that adheres to these matters/queries from aggrieved women.

Constitution Of The Inquiry Committee:

The inquiry committee is constituted under sections 4 & 5 of the POSH act, which is the internal complaints committee to be formed by every employer in a company and the local complaints committed to handling sexual harassment matters in the workplace at the district level where there is no internal structure of the complaints committee at the workplace.

According To Section 4 Of The Posh Act:

Every workplace employer shall, by written order, form a Committee to be known as the "Internal Complaints Committee", which shall consist of a senior-level woman from the workplace who shall be the presiding officer, two employees who are fully well equipped with knowledge of gender-neutral laws and societal norms (internal member), and one person from non-governmental organizations committed to the cause of women (external member).

The ICC must at least consist of 50% women. The member in the ICC is nominated by the employer for a term of up to 3years from the date of their nomination, as the employer may specify. When the ICC's constitution was contested in Jaya Kodate v. Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University in 2014, the Bombay High Court ruled that evidence supporting the member's compliance with the Act's requirements must be entered into the record.

If this is not practicable, there must be adequate proof that no other employees at the company met the aforementioned criteria, leaving them with little choice but to select the two as members. Since none of the two members, in this case, met the Act's requirements for membership, the court ruled that the ICC's creation was unlawful and in violation of Section 4 of the Act.

Section 5 Of The Posh Act:

This section gives power to the local committees to be established by the district governments in order to help look into and address complaints of sexual harassment coming from the unorganized sectors, from businesses where the internal committee has not been formed because there are fewer than 10 employees, or when the complaint is against the employer.

The creation of a local committee is particularly important in cases of sexual harassment of domestic workers or where the employer or a third person not employed by the company is a party to the complaint. The Local Complaints Committee was renamed the Local Committee as a result of the Repealing and Amending Act, of 2016, which is significant to note.

Section 7 Of The Posh Act:

Every workplace employer shall, by written order, form a Committee to be known as the "Internal Complaints Committee", which shall consist of a senior-level woman from the workplace who shall be the presiding officer, two employees who are fully well equipped with knowledge of gender-neutral laws and societal norms (internal member), and one person from non-governmental organizations committed to the cause of women (external member). The ICC must at least consist of 50% women. The member in the ICC is nominated by the employer for a term of up to 3years from the date of their nomination, as the employer may specify.

When the ICC's constitution was contested in Jaya Kodate v. Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University in 2014, the Bombay High Court ruled that evidence supporting the member's compliance with the Act's requirements must be entered into the record. If this is not practicable, there must be adequate proof that no other employees at the company met the aforementioned criteria, leaving them with little choice but to select the two as members. Since none of the two members, in this case, met the Act's requirements for membership, the court ruled that the ICC's creation was unlawful and in violation of Section 4 of the Act.

Section 5 Of The Posh Act:

This section gives power to the local committees to be established by the district governments in order to help look into and address complaints of sexual harassment coming from the unorganized sectors, from businesses where the internal committee has not been formed because there are fewer than 10 employees, or when the complaint is against the employer.

The creation of a local committee is particularly important in cases of sexual harassment of domestic workers or where the employer or a third person not employed by the company is a party to the complaint. The Local Complaints Committee was renamed the Local Committee as a result of the Repealing and Amending Act, of 2016, which is significant to note.

Section 7 Of The Posh Act:

According to section 7 of the posh act, the local committee is constituted by:

• A chairperson must be female. This woman must be a prominent social worker and advocate for women's rights.
• A local woman will be chosen from among the women who work in the district's blocks, talukas, tehsils, wards, and municipalities. And
• Two members of non-governmental organizations of whom one must be a woman from a women's organization or someone knowledgeable about sexual harassment issues. It is recommended that at least one of the members be a lawyer. Furthermore, at least one of the members must be a woman from one of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.

Procedures For Making Complaints:

Section 9 of the same said act (POSH), requires Any aggrieved woman to make, in writing, a complaint of sexual harassment at the workplace to the Internal Committee if so constituted, or the Local Committee, in case it is not so constituted, within a period of three months from the date of incident and in case of a series of incidents, within a period of three months from the date of the last incident: although if the aggrieved/victimized lady is unable to file a complaint within the allotted three months, the Internal Complaints Committee or Local Complaints Committee may extend the deadline.

Section 11 Of The Act:

provides the internal complaints committee or local committee the power to make inquiries into the complaint after the complaint is being made by the aggrieved woman. If the respondent is an employee, the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be, proceed to make an inquiry into the complaint in accordance with the provisions of the service rules applicable to the respondent, and where no such rules exist, in such manner as may be prescribed.

If the respondent is a domestic worker, the Local Committee shall, if prima facie case exists, forward the complaint to the police, within a period of seven days for registration under section 509 of the Indian Penal Code 1860.

Section 13 Of The Act:

Now this section is very important as it provides the details and closing remarks of the ICC or LC. After the inquiry of the complaints has been made by the internal committee or local committee as the case may be, they shall provide a report of its findings to the employer in order to take out proper action against the accused.

Now the said report that will be provided by either the internal committee or local committee is said to be "a report", and by a report a detailed report constituting joint efforts of all the members of the committee, including the presiding officers.

Where all the members are of different opinions on the said issue or complaint made, the court will not accept that report. Section 13 of the act demonstrates the spirit of the act and report a joint envision based on the consensus of all the members. Justice B.P Dharmadhikar in the Jaya Kodate case also made clear that separate reports from the ICC would not be permitted.

In this case, "Jaya Kodate v. Rashtrasant Tukdomji Maharaj Nagpur University" the Presiding Officer, two internal members, an external member from an NGO, and a report had all been filed. The two reports, according to the court, could not be taken into account. The fundamental purpose of having a multi-member group becomes frustrated if there is no conversation, consideration, or consultation with the other members.

Additionally, there is a chance for personal prejudices to emerge if they are not restrained by social interaction. In addition, the court ruled that the ICC's members cannot just sign off on a report written by one of them; rather, each member must actively participate and apply their own judgment.