National Commission for Women

The Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 has been enacted to protect women and safeguard her rights at workplace.NCW organized an interactive meeting with State Commissions on 3.2.2015 to deliberate upon the above said Act.  The Act and Rules framed thereto have put onus on the employer to constitute Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) and on the district officer to constitute Local Complaint Committee (LCC) to address such complaints.

The broad recommendations that emerged during the discussion were :

(i) Monitoring the constitution of ICC/LCC – The State Women Commissions should monitor the constitution of Internal Complaint Committees and Local Complaint Committees at district level in their respective States.

(ii) Monitoring of working of ICC/LCC – The State Women Commissions should monitor the working of Internal Complaint Committee and Local Complaint Committees at district level in  their respective States.  Video conferencing with district officers is recommended. 

(iii) Awareness Programmes – The State Women Commissions should regularly hold programmes to disseminate information about provisions of Act and rules thereto in their respective States for its better implementation.

(iv) Internal Complaint Committees – The State Commission should also ensure the constitution of Internal Complaint Committees in their own offices.

(v) Collaboration with Organisations – The State Commissions should collaborate with different organizations for holding workshops, orientation and awareness programmes for members of ICC and to provide resource persons.

(vi) Annual Reports – The copies of the Annual Reports pertaining to the working of the Internal Complaint Committees and Local Complaint Committees should be provided to the State Women Commission by the organizations and district officers.

The suggested recommendations were sent to Ministry of Women & Child Development as well to the State Governments for further necessary action.