Laws laid down by supreme court
Any consensual relationship among adults would not be the concern of the Management or of the ICC(Internal complaints committee} Declares-High court of Delhi.
·
A female employee
of Punjab National Bank filed a complaint against the General Manager of the bank
in Mumbai. Upon her complaint, the ICC was(Internal Complaints Committee )
constituted by the Bank, consisting of 4 members, which concluded that the
relationship between the parties was based on mutual consent, and the
allegations of sexual, emotional and mental harassment had not been
substantiated by the employee.
·
The ICC did not
stop there but went on to make observations that the "behaviour of the
parties had been inappropriate and unbecoming of Officers/Employees" and
therefore, it "recommended the Competent Authority to take suitable
action" against both the employee and the General Manager
·
As a result of
this report, a charge-sheet was issued against the complainant employee under
Regulation 6 of the Punjab National Bank Officer Employees' (Discipline &
Appeal) Regulations, 1977
·
The employee moved
the writ petition before the Delhi High Court .
·
The Bank
thereafter held up the employee's promotion in view of the pendency of the
present petition
Observations
By the High Court of Delhi
1.
The jurisdiction
of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) established under the Sexual Harassment
of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, is
limited to allegations of sexual harassment and whether a complaint is
made out or not, to that effect. The ICC "cannot make comments on the
personal conduct of the parties",
2.
"any
consensual relationship among adults would not be the concern of the Management
or of the ICC, so long as the said relationship does not affect the working and
the discipline of the organisation and is not contrary to the Rules or code of
conduct binding on the said employees," and said that "moral policing
is not the job of the management or the ICC".
3.
The Court
thereafter directed the Bank to independently consider the complainant's
candidature for promotion, though the same was to be kept it a sealed cover and
not given effect to
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