Supreme Court of India

INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR.versusUNION OF INDIA & ORS

Citation: 2023 INSC 927
Decided: 19 October 2023
Disposal: Directions issued
Bench: S RAVINDRA BHAT

Holding

The Court held that the Union and State/UT governments are mandatorily bound to implement the POSH Act, that ‘may’ in Section 5 must be read as a command, and that the identified statutory gaps require amendment and specific supervisory directions.

Summary

The petitioners, a civil society organization, filed a writ under Article 32 seeking mandatory implementation of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and its Rules across the Union and all States/UTs. The Court examined the statutory scheme, particularly the duties of the District Officer under Sections 5, 6, 20‑23, and held that the word “may” in Section 5 must be read as a command given the context, thereby imposing a non‑discretionary duty to appoint district and nodal officers. It further found that the existing Rules contain lacunae concerning the reporting authority and fine‑collection mechanism under Section 26, which require amendment. Accordingly, the Court directed the Union and State governments to appoint district officers, constitute Local Committees and Internal Complaints Committees, publish contact details, train officials, allocate resources, and submit compliance reports within specified time‑frames. The directions also reiterated earlier guidelines from Aureliano Fernandes and mandated the preparation of SOPs and awareness material, especially for the unorganised sector and domestic workers.

Issues considered

The extent of the Union and State/UT governments' duty to implement the POSH Act and Rules
Whether the term ‘may’ in Section 5 of the POSH Act imposes a mandatory duty to appoint District Officers
The role and powers of District Officers under Sections 5, 6, 20‑23
The necessity to amend the POSH Rules to fill gaps in reporting authority and fine‑collection under Section 26
The propriety of issuing supervisory directions for appointment of officers, constitution of committees, and publication of compliance data

Legislation cited

Constitution of Indias. Article 32
Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013s. 20, s. 21, s. 22, s. 23, s. 24, s. 26, s. 29, s. 5, s. 6, s. 7

Subjects

POSH Actsexual harassmentimplementationdistrict officerlocal committeeinternal complaints committeeunorganised sectordomestic workerpublic interest litigationArticle 32administrative law

Judgment

[2023] 13 S.C.R. 675 : 2023 INSC 927

CASE DETAILS

INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR.
v.
UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
(Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1224 of 2017)
OCTOBER 19, 2023
[S. RAVINDRA BHAT AND DIPANKAR DATTA, JJ.]
HEADNOTES
Issue for consideration: Writ petitioner sought directions for
implementation of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention,
Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 read with the Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013.
Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition
and Redressal) Act, 2013 – Sexual Harassment of Women at
Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013 –
Directions issued (under the relevant heads) to ensure the eﬀective
implementation of the POSH Act, and render it workable:
Held: (A) Coordination between Union Government and State/UT
Governments: The Women and Child Development Ministry of every
State/UT, through its Principal Secretary, should consider identifying a
‘nodal person’ within the Department, to oversee and aid in coordination
as contemplated under the POSH Act – This person would also be able
to coordinate with the Union Government on matters relating to this
Act and its implementation; (B) Appointment of Public Authorities: The
concerned Principal Secretary of the State/UT Ministry of Women and
Child [or any other Department, subject to amendment of the Rules], will
personally ensure appointment of a district oﬃcer in each district within
their territorial jurisdiction, as contemplated under Section 5 – Thereafter,
each appointed district oﬃcer (a) must in compliance of Section 6(2)
appoint nodal oﬃcers in every block, taluka and tehsil in rural or tribal
area and ward or municipality in the urban area; (b) must constitute a
LC, as contemplated under Section 6 and 7 of the Act; and (c) ensure the
675
676 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

contact details of these nodal oﬃcers, and LCs, shall be forwarded to the
nodal person within the State Government Ministry of Women and Child
Development – Thereafter, a circular/bulletin containing names of all
district oﬃcers, and their contact details (phone, address, and email), along
with a district wise chart of the various nodal oﬃcers and their contact
details, must be uploaded on the department’s website (or in the absence
of one, on the main State government website) in a conspicuous location,
along with a compiled version of the Act, Rules, and simple charts/
explainers on the basics of the Act; (C) Amendments and gaps in Rules
that State must ﬁll: The Union Government ought to consider amending
the Rules, so as to operationalise Section 26 of the Act, by recognising
a reporting authority, and/or a ﬁne collecting authority – The Union
Government may also consider amending the Rules so as to identify one
Department (preferably the Women and Child Department), and creating
a ‘nodal person’ post within the said Department to be responsible for the
coordination required in the implementation of the Act; (D) Training and
capacity building: The District Oﬃcers and LCs should be mandatorily
trained regarding their important responsibilities – Organisation of
periodic and regular training sessions at the District level which are to be
attended by the District Oﬃcer, members of the LC, and nodal oﬃcers;
(E) Larger eﬀorts towards awareness: In furtherance of Section 24, the
State/UT Governments, and Union Government are hereby directed to
set out the ﬁnancial resources allocated and or needed, to developing
educational, communication and training material for spreading awareness
of the provisions of this Act to the public, and formulate orientation and
training programmes – The District Oﬃcers, once nominated by the
State are hereby directed to identify the non-governmental organisations
working with women and their protection within the district, and take
action pursuant to their duty under Section 20(b) for creation of awareness
– The appropriate government or district oﬃcers in question, must also
undertake eﬀort to spread awareness on the existence of LCs, and make
them approachable for the unorganized sector-thus operationalizing
the horizontal import of this Act – The directions (iv) and (v) passed in
Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa & Ors. are reiterated – A targeted
eﬀort be made to share the Government of India, Handbook on Sexual
Harassment of Women at Workplace (2015) with each District Oﬃcer,
INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR. v. 677
UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

who may in turn disseminate it to their respective LCs, the nodal oﬃcers
appointed under Section 6(2), and employers who constitute their own
ICCs; (F) Annual Compliance Reports : Due compliance with Section
21(1) and (2), and Section 22, must be undertaken by each District
Oﬃcer, of the State – The State/UT Governments is hereby directed to
create a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) including the procedure,
and timelines for this process, so as to enable it to, in turn, comply with
Section 23 of the Act, i.e., monitoring implementation and maintaining
data; (G) Monitoring of ICs and compliance by employers : The directions
passed in Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa & Ors. address most
speciﬁcally, the constitution of ICs-in public establishments [falling
broadly within Section 2(o)(i)] and some private establishments-such
as bodies governing professional associations, etc.; those directions are
hereby reiterated, to avoid multiplicity or overlap of eﬀorts – Similarly,
directions are hereby made to hospitals, nursing homes, sports institutes,
stadiums, sports complex, or competition or games venues [as deﬁned in
Section 2(o)(iii) and (iv)] to establish ICs, and report compliance as per
the duties under this Act – The District Oﬃcer must be supplied a list of
establishments (compiled by the relevant departments of the State/UT
Government) that fall within the scope of Section 2(o), so that they may
write to them and ensure that they are well versed with the provisions
relating to employers, and their duties (including constitution of ICC
under Section 4, duties under Section 19, etc.) and are implementing them
in letter and spirit. This will also enable collection of annual reports, as
contemplated under Section 21 – The consequent direction to all private
sector workplaces under Section 2(o)(ii) can be passed once the District
Oﬃcer is able to discern an exhaustive list of entities. [Para 22]
Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2013 – ‘may’ in s.5 – discussed.
Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2013 – ‘domestic worker’, ‘unorganised sector’,
‘workplace’ – discussed.
Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2013 – Role of District Oﬃcer – discussed.
678 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

LIST OF CITATIONS AND OTHER REFERENCES

State of Uttar Pradesh v. Jogendra Singh [1964] 2 SCR 197 – relied on.
Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa & Ors., (Judgment dated
12.05.2023 in C.A. No.2482 of 2014) – referred to.
OTHER CASE DETAILS INCLUDING IMPUGNED
ORDER AND APPEARANCES

CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1224
of 2017.
(Under Article 32 of The Constitution of India)
Appearances:
Sanjay Parikh, Sr. Adv., Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, Ms. Shobha Gupta,
Aditya Ranjan, Ms. Jessy Kurian, Ms. Tarjana Rai, Advs. for the Petitioners.
Lokesh Sinhal, Sr. A.A.G., Deepak Thukral, A.A.G., Ms. Rekha Dayal,
Sr. Adv., Ms. Suhseni Sen, Ms. Manisha Chava, Rustam Singh Chauhan,
Gurmeet Singh Makker, Sahil Bhalaik, Tushar Giri, Siddharth Anil Khanna,
Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, Surjendu Sankar Das, Ms. Annie Mittal, Vinod
Sharma, Pashupathi Nath Razdan, Ms. Maitreyee Jagat Joshi, Astik Gupta,
Ms. Akanksha Tomar, Nishe Rajen Shonker, Mrs. Anu K. Joy, Abraham
Mathew, Alim Anvar, Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, Aaditya Aniruddha
Pande, Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Sourav Singh, Aditya Krishna, Mrinal
Gopal Elker, Saurabh Singh, Siddhesh Shirish Kotwal, Ms. Ana Upadhyay,
Ms. Manya Hasija, Tejasvi Gupta, Pawan Upadhyay, Nirnimesh Dube,
Shibashish Misra, Ajay Pal, Mayank Dahiya, Ms. Sugandh Rathor, Tanmaya
Agarwal, Wrick Chatterjee, Mrs. Aditi Agarwal, Vinayak Mohan, Raj
Bahadur Yadav, Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, Sri Harsha Peechara, Duvvuri
Subrahmanya Bhanu, Ms. Pallavi, Ms. Kriti Sinha, Rajiv Kumar Choudhry,
Aravindh S., Abbas, Abhinav Mukerji, Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Ms. Pratishtha Vij,
Mohit Prasad, Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, Samar Vijay Singh, Dr. Monika Gusain,
Nikunj Gupta, Keshav Mittal, Tapesh Kumar Singh, Prashant Bhardwaj,
Aditya Pratap Singh, Priyanshu Malik, V. N. Raghupathy, Manendra Pal
Gupta, Varun Varma, M. Bangaraswamy, S. Spandana Reddy, Avijit Mani
Tripathi, T.K. Nayak, Ms. Rekha Bakshi, Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Ms. K.
INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR. v. 679
UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Enatoli Sema, Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Amit Kumar Singh, Ms. Chubalemla
Chang, Prang Newmai, Raghvendra Kumar, Anand Kumar Dubey, Devvrat
Singh Naruka, Ms. Harsha Sharma, Maneeshpathak, Sabarish Subramanian,
Shuvodeep Roy, Kabir Shankar Bose, Deepayan Dutta, Vishwa Pal Singh,
Ms. Rachana Gandhi, Mukesh Kumar, Bharpur Singh, Sandeep Kumar,
Ashish Pandey, Akash, Gopal Singh, Akhileshwar Jha, Hitesh Kumar
Sharma, Neeraj Singh, Ms. Yamini Sharma, Ritika Raj, Ms. Niharika
Dewivedi, Ms. Manju Jetley, Gaurav Agrawal, Satya Mitra, Advs. for the
Respondents.

JUDGMENT / ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT

JUDGMENT
S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.
1. The writ-petitioner organisation, approaches this court under Article
32 of the Constitution, seeking issuance of appropriate orders directing
the respondents [Union government, and each State/UT government –
collectively referred to as ‘respondent-state’] to take steps for implementing
the provisions of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention,
Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 read with the Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013
[hereafter “Act/POSH Act” or “Act” and “Rules/POSH Rules” respectively].
The detailed claims1 are extracted verbatim:
“1. To issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or an appropriate writ,
order or direction as may be necessary:-
a. Directing all the Respondents, i.e. Union of India, States and UTs
to implement the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women
at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal) Act, 2013 and
the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,
Prohibition, Redressal) Rules, 2013 without any further delay;

1 The following abbreviations have been used in the writ petition, as well as in this
judgment hereafter: “LCC” or “LC” mean ‘Local Committee’ (as per Act 23/2016
which amended ‘local complaints committee’ to ‘local committee’); and “ICC” or
“IC” to mean ‘Internal Complaints Committee’.
680 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

b. Directing all the States/UTs to notify and appoint the District
Oﬃcers as per Section 5 of the Act;
c. Directing all the States/UTs to constitute LCCs in all the districts
as per Section 6 & 7 of the Act;
d. Directing all the States/UTs to appoint Nodal Oﬃcers as per
Section 6 of the Act;
e. Directing all the States/UTs to constitute ICCs as per Section 4 of
the Act in all the workplaces deﬁned in Section 2(o) of the Act;
f. Directing all the States/UTs to ensure reporting and collection of
Annual Compliance Reports from all workplaces by all the District
Oﬃcers of respective States as per Section 21 and 22 of the Act;
g. Directing all the States/UTs to ensure that the Annual Compliance
Reports collected by District Oﬃce[r]s, containing information
on the number of cases ﬁled and their disposal, are consolidated
and the reports are published and put in public domain;
h. Directing all the States/UTs to give due publicity to the Acts and
Rules in all the Districts – block, talukas, tehsil in rural or tribal
area and ward or municipality in the urban area and that awareness
activities will be organized to advance the understanding of the
provisions of this Act;
i. Directing all the States/UTs that the gist of important provisions
will be displayed at all working places in all the States/UTs.
j. Directing Respondent No.1 to frame rules and/or directions as
provided in Section 29 of the Act, to clarify role of Districts in
collecting annual compliance reports from ICCs and LCCs, role
of District Oﬃcers in collecting ﬁnes for non-compliance of the
Act and appropriate authority for collection of ﬁnes;
2. Issue any other writ/order/direction as this Hon’ble Court may
deem ﬁt and proper in the circumstances of the case.”
2. Over the course of many hearings, this court, with the able assistance
and cooperation of learned counsels involved in the matter – on both sides –
undertook an exercise to delineate lacunae in the implementation of the Act,
INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR. v. 681
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. [S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.]

on ground. Further, in compliance with orders of this court, numerous states2
ﬁled aﬃdavits highlighting steps taken by their respective governments in
furtherance of implementing the Act and Rules in letter and spirit.
3. On 20.02.2023, learned counsels addressed this court on certain
questions regarding the setting up of Nodal Cells in the concerned Central
Union Ministry and also with respect to setting up of Local Committee and
appointment of Nodal Oﬃcers in all districts of the country. This judgment
pertains to these speciﬁc issues and the suggestions made in this regard.
4. Recently, this court in another bench composition, in Aureliano
Fernandes v. State of Goa & Ors.3 had occasion to pass directions regarding
the implementation of the POSH Act. These directions are comprehensive
with regards to seeking compliance of the Act by the appropriate government
[as deﬁned under Section 2(b)] and its many departments, authorities,
institutions, etc.; the High Courts and the courts it supervises; speciﬁc non-
state authorities/organisations such as – statutory bodies of professionals
(at the apex and state level), universities and other educational institutions,
hospitals/nursing homes, etc. It speciﬁcally directed NALSA and SLSAs,
and the National Judicial Academy and State Judicial Academies, to develop
modules for workshops and awareness programmes, in their capacities.
Given that the directions passed overlap with the scope of the present writ
petition that is before this court, they merit emphatic reiteration:
“77. To fulﬁl the promise that the PoSH Act holds out to working
women all over the country, it is deemed appropriate to issue the
following directions:
(i) The Union of India, all State Governments and Union Territories
are directed to undertake a timebound exercise to verify as to whether
all the concerned Ministries, Departments, Government organizations,
authorities, Public Sector Undertakings, institutions, bodies, etc. have

2 Including Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Goa, Puducherry, Dadra &
Nagar Haveli, Karnataka, Manipur, Haryana, Telangana, Gujarat, Assam, Rajasthan,
Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh UT, Andaman and Nicobar, Uttarakhand, Uttar
Pradesh, Sikkim, Punjab, Odisha, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, NCT Delhi, Bihar, Tamil
Nadu, Kerala, and Tripura.
3 Judgment dated 12.05.2023 in Civil Appeal No. 2482/2014.
682 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

constituted ICCs/LCs/ICs, as the case may be and that the composition
of the said Committees are strictly in terms of the provisions of the
PoSH Act.
(ii) It shall be ensured that necessary information regarding the
constitution and composition of the ICCs/LCs/ICs, details of the e-mail
IDs and contact numbers of the designated person(s), the procedure
prescribed for submitting an online complaint, as also the relevant
rules, regulations and internal policies are made readily available
on the website of the concerned Authority/Functionary/Organisation/
Institution/Body, as the case may be. The information furnished shall
also be updated from time to time.
(iii) A similar exercise shall be undertaken by all the Statutory bodies
of professionals at the Apex level and the State level (including
those regulating doctors, lawyers, architects, chartered accountants,
cost accountants, engineers, bankers and other professionals), by
Universities, colleges, Training Centres and educational institutions
and by government and private hospitals/nursing homes.
(iv) Immediate and eﬀective steps shall be taken by the authorities/
managements/employers to familiarize members of the ICCs/LCs/
ICs with their duties and the manner in which an inquiry ought to
be conducted on receiving a complaint of sexual harassment at the
workplace, from the point when the complaint is received, till the
inquiry is ﬁnally concluded and the Report submitted.
(v) The authorities/management/employers shall regularly conduct
orientation programmes, workshops, seminars and awareness
programmes to upskill members of the ICCs/LCs/ICs and to educate
women employees and women’s groups about the provisions of the
Act, the Rules and relevant regulations.
(vi) The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and the State
Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs) shall develop modules to
conduct workshops and organize awareness programmes to sensitize
authorities/managements/employers, employees and adolescent groups
with the provisions of the Act, which shall be included in their annual
calendar.
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(vii) The National Judicial Academy and the State Judicial Academies
shall include in their annual calendars, orientation programmes,
seminars and workshops for capacity building of members of the ICCs/
LCs/ICs established in the High Courts and District Courts and for
drafting Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to conduct an inquiry
under the Act and Rules.
(viii) A copy of this judgment shall be transmitted to the Secretaries
of all the Ministries, Government of India who shall ensure
implementation of the directions by all the concerned Departments,
Statutory Authorities, Institutions, Organisations etc. under the
control of the respective Ministries. A copy of the judgment shall also
be transmitted to the Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union
Territories who shall ensure strict compliance of these directions
by all the concerned Departments. It shall be the responsibility of
the Secretaries of the Ministries, Government of India and the Chief
Secretaries of every State/Union Territory to ensure implementation
of the directions issued.
(ix) The Registry of the Supreme Court of India shall transmit a copy
of this judgment to the Director, National Judicial Academy, Member
Secretary, NALSA, Chairperson, Bar Council of India and the Registrar
Generals of all the High Courts. The Registry shall also transmit a
copy of this judgment to the Medical Council of India, Council of
Architecture, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Company
Secretaries and the Engineering Council of India for implementing
the directions issued.
(x) Member-Secretary, NALSA is requested to transmit a copy of this
judgment to the Member Secretaries of all the State Legal Services
Authorities. Similarly, the Registrar Generals of the State High Courts
shall transmit a copy of this judgment to the Directors of the State
Judicial Academies and the Principal District Judges/District Judges
of their respective States.
(xi) The Chairperson, Bar Council of India and the Apex Bodies
mentioned in sub-para (ix) above, shall in turn, transmit a copy of this
judgment to all the State Bar Councils and the State Level Councils,
as the case may be.
684 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

78. The Union of India and all States/UTs are directed to ﬁle their
aﬃdavits within eight weeks for reporting compliances. List after
eight weeks.”
5. In addition to these detailed directions, a few aspects relating to the
eﬀective implementation of the POSH Act highlighted in the present writ
petition, require our attention.
Authorities responsible for the implementation of the POSH Act
6. The POSH Act is comprehensive, and a code in itself, for prevention,
punishment and redressal of sexual harassment complaints. It takes the
remit of the remedy envisaged in the Vishaka Guidelines beyond the State
and public functionaries, to a larger, much wider scope of ‘employee’ 4 and
‘employer’5 than any other legislation. As a result, it comes too, with its
own challenges for eﬀective implementation. Anticipating this, the Act

4 Section 2(f) reads as follows:
“(f) “employee” means a person employed at a workplace for any work on
regular, temporary, ad hoc or daily wage basis, either directly or through an agent,
including a contractor, with or, without the knowledge of the principal employer,
whether for remuneration or not, or working on a voluntary basis or otherwise,
whether the terms of employment are express or implied and includes a co-worker, a
contract worker, probationer, trainee, apprentice or called by any other such name”
5 Section 2(g) reads as follows:
“(g) “employer” means—
(i) in relation to any department, organisation, undertaking, establishment,
enterprise, institution, oﬃce, branch or unit of the appropriate Government or a local
authority, the head of that department, organisation, undertaking, establishment,
enterprise, institution, oﬃce, branch or unit or such other oﬃcer as the appropriate
Government or the local authority, as the case may be, may by an order specify in this
behalf;
(ii) in any workplace not covered under sub-clause (i), any person responsible for
the management, supervision and control of the workplace.
Explanation. —For the purposes of this sub-clause “management” includes the person
or board or committee responsible for formulation and administration of polices for
such organisation;
(iii) in relation to workplace covered under sub-clauses (i) and (ii), the person
discharging contractual obligations with respect to his or her employees;
(iv) in relation to a dwelling place or house, a person or a household who employs
or beneﬁts from the employment of domestic worker, irrespective of the number, time
period or type of such worker employed, or the nature of the employment or activities
performed by the domestic worker;”
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provides for a tiered-model for its functioning, and in turn for monitoring
of its implementation.
7. Each employer is legally mandated to constitute an ICC under
Section 4. To address the gaps where there is no ICC (i.e., for those
working in a workplace that employs less than 10 workers or where the
employer themselves are the respondent), the Act provides for an LC
in each district, which is to be constituted by the District Oﬃcer under
Section 6. The District Oﬃcer is also tasked with designating a nodal
oﬃcer in each block, taluka, and tehsil in rural or tribal area, and ward
or municipality in the urban area, to receive complaints and forward the
same to the concerned LC6. These nodal oﬃcers are meant to be the ﬁrst
point of contact in that sense, especially in situations where there is no
ICC constituted. The ICC or LC after conducting inquiry (or recording
settlement7 if such is the case), has to in its inquiry report recommend to
the employer, or District Oﬃcer, respectively, what action is to be taken
against the respondent (or in the situation of a false/malicious case8, against
the complainant), in each case9.
8. The Petitioner has pointed out that there is a lack of clarity as to
the District Oﬃcer’s role in relation to the annual reports contemplated
under Section 21 and 22. A reading of these provisions together oﬀers some
clarity: both the ICC and LC prepare annual reports and submit it either
directly (in the case of the LC) or through the employer (here, the ICC), to
the District Oﬃcer10. While Section 21(1) does not mention the ICC report
being forwarded to the District Oﬃcer, Section 22 right after, states that the
employer is mandated to mention in its report the number of cases lodged
and disposed (if any), and even in the absence of a report it must intimate
the numbers to the District Oﬃcer11. Further, it is the District Oﬃcer, in
turn, who submits a brief report to the State Government12.

6 Section 6(2) of the POSH Act.
7 Section 10 of the POSH Act.
8 Section 14 of the POSH Act and Rule 10 of the Rules.
9 Section 13 of the POSH Act and Rule 9 of the Rules.
10 Section 21(1) of the POSH Act.
11 Section 22 of the POSH Act.
12 Section 21(2) of the POSH Act.
686 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

9. The appropriate government [deﬁned under Section 2(b)], is
responsible at the last level, to monitor the implementation of this Act
and maintain data on the number of cases ﬁled and disposed of in respect
of all cases of sexual harassment at workplace13. It is also obligated to
take measures to publicise the Act14. Another built-in safeguard in the
framework is that the appropriate government is empowered to call for
information and inspection of records15 - wherein it may call upon an
employer or District Oﬃcer to furnish in writing any information relating
to sexual harassment it may require, or produce any record required by an
oﬃcer authorised to carry out an inspection.
10. What is wholly apparent from this outline of the scheme of the
Act, is that the role of the District Oﬃcer, is pivotal; they are responsible
for numerous aspects in the implementation of the Act. It is where the
buck stops, so to say, in terms of coordination and accountability relating
to the POSH Act. Even in terms of payment and fees – the District Oﬃcer
is responsible for payment of allowances to the Chairman and members of
the LC16, which it receives from the agency set up by the State Government
(ref: Section 8 of the Act). Interestingly, the District Oﬃcer also performs
a duty in terms of enforcement; under Section 13, if the respondent in any
case fails to pay any sum so directed, the ICC/LC can forward the order
for recovery of the sum as an arrear of land revenue to the concerned
District Oﬃcer17.
11. Section 5 stipulates that:
“5. The appropriate Government may notify a District Magistrate
or Additional District Magistrate or the Collector or Deputy
Collector as a District Oﬃcer. for every District to exercise
powers or discharge functions under this Act.”
And Chapter VII, titled ‘Duties and Powers of the District Oﬃcer’
states under Section 20:

13 Section 23 of the POSH Act.
14 Section 24 of the POSH Act.
15 Section 25 of the POSH Act.
16 Rule 5 of the POSH Rules
17 Second proviso to Section 13(3) of the POSH Act.
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“20. The District Oﬃcer shall, -
(a) monitor the timely submission of reports furnished by the
Local Committee;
(b) take such measures as may be necessary for engaging non-
governmental organisations for creation of awareness on sexual
harassment and the rights of the women.”
While the language used in Section 5 is ‘may’, the context of the
statute – as elaborated above, and speciﬁcally Section 20 (which uses ‘shall’
and obligates the District Oﬃcer to perform pivotal functions) makes it
quite clear that the District Oﬃcer, is the most important functionary in the
system, tasked with keeping the redressal and monitoring framework both
intact, and smoothly running. In one of the ﬁrst cases on the interpretation
of ‘may’, this court in State of Uttar Pradesh v. Jogendra Singh18 held:
“There is no doubt that the word “’may” generally does not mean
‘must’ or ‘shall’. But it is well settled that the word “may” is capable
of meaning “must” or ‘shall’ in the light of the context. It is also clear
that where a discretion is conferred upon a public authority coupled
with an obligation, the word ‘may’ which denotes discretion should
be construed to mean a command. Sometimes, the legislature uses
the word “may” out of deference to the high status of the authority
on whom the power and the obligation are intended to be conferred
and imposed. In the present case, it is the context which is decisive.”
Treating Section 5 as directory, would leave a gaping hole in the
otherwise clearly delineated workﬂow and redressal mechanism, and the
eﬃcacy of this legislation, as a result, falls ﬂat.
12. We have perused the replies/aﬃdavits ﬁled by numerous states
pursuant to receiving notice; seen together, they are marked by a lack of
uniformity in terms of implementation of the Act. Numerous states have
tried to force-ﬁt the institutional requirements of the Act, within their
existing bureaucratic frameworks (for instance, some states have assigned
its implementation to departments other than their Women and Child

18 [1964] SCR (2) 197
688 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

Development Ministry, like the departments dealing with Social Welfare,
Social Security, Legislative Aﬀairs, etc.). The aﬃdavit ﬁled by the petitioner
in response to the replies by the States, highlights the many lacunae and
lack of uniformity in the implementation of the POSH Act, by various state
governments. District Oﬃcers were in most states notiﬁed after notice of this
writ petition was served on them, and even among those states that have taken
action – they have simply notiﬁed a speciﬁc post as District Oﬃcer, without
providing any speciﬁc details of the oﬃcers, their contact information, etc.
Most states have failed to provide documentation on constitution of LCs,
and even those who have, many have not constituted one in each district.
Only a handful of states have provided any details of ‘nodal oﬃcers’– but
even among these, the nodal oﬃcers are speciﬁc posts notiﬁed, and not
individuals at every taluka, ward, municipality, etc. as contemplated under
Section 6(2). The information on annual reports is perhaps most alarming–
only three have provided a consolidated report (relying on diﬀering sources,
or just the LCs). Each State, has notiﬁed a diﬀerent Ministry as the ‘nodal’
ministry for implementation of the Act – some have notiﬁed the Social
Welfare Ministry or its allied departments, while others rely on the Women
and Child Development department.
13. The general thrust of the aﬃdavits, especially that of the Union of
India – has been to highlight the generation of awareness through a massive
publicity campaign and issuance of advisories, publication of handbooks,
etc. However, it is quite plainly clear that though the generation of awareness
is necessary, if a woman suﬀers sexual harassment at the workplace – the
framework for redressal has to in fact exist. The failure to notify district
oﬃcers speciﬁcally, has a snowballing eﬀect on appointment of the LCs
and nodal oﬃcers, in addition to other aspects. The complaint mechanism,
and larger framework - no matter how eﬀective, remain inadequate if the
authorities set out in the Act, are not duly appointed/notiﬁed. Therefore,
the State/UT government must ensure that every district, at all times has
a notiﬁed District Oﬃcer; in case of vacancy caused by retirement, or any
other reason, it must be duly remedied, to enable smooth transition between
oﬃcers, and ensure that there is always someone in-charge of this position.
Furthermore, eﬀort has to be undertaken to orient, train and sensitise these
district oﬃcers, with regards to the provisions of the Act and Rules, with
an emphasis on their roles and obligations. Similar range of activities must
INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR. v. 689
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. [S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.]

be conducted for the nodal oﬃcers appointed and LCs constituted by each
district oﬃcer.
Operationalizing the Act for the unorganized sector
14. This Act is a pioneering legislation with a ‘horizontal’ mechanism
and rights framework. A look at some of the deﬁnitions - ‘employee’19,
‘employer’20, and ‘workplace’21 drives this point home and demonstrates
the scope of its horizontal application. Further, the inclusion of deﬁnitions
of ‘domestic worker’, and ‘unorganized sector’ in Section 2, which though
not expressly referred to in the substantive content of the Act, is telling:
“(e) “domestic worker” means a woman who is employed to do the
household work in any household for remuneration whether in cash or
kind, either directly or through any agency on a temporary, permanent,
part time or full time basis, but does not include any member of the
family of the employer;”
“(p) “unorganised sector” in relation to a workplace means an
enterprise owned by individuals or self-employed workers and engaged
in the production or sale of goods or providing service of any kind
whatsoever, and where the enterprise employs workers, the number
of such workers is less than ten.”
The inclusion of these deﬁnitions, has greatly expanded the scope of
this Act’s application. An aggrieved domestic worker, thus, can take action
against a person residing in the house they work at, using the LC framework;
see Section 2(o) which deﬁnes ‘workplace’ and includes under sub-clause
(vi) “a dwelling place or house”:
“(o) “workplace” includes—
(i) any department, organisation, undertaking, establishment,
enterprise, institution, oﬃce, branch or unit which is established,
owned, controlled or wholly or substantially financed by funds
provided directly or indirectly by the appropriate Government or the

19 Section 2(f), extracted above in fn 4.
20 Section 2(g) extracted above in fn 5.
21 Section 2(o) of the Act.
690 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

local authority or a Government company or a corporation or a co-
operative society;
(ii) any private sector organisation or a private venture, undertaking,
enterprise, institution, establishment, society, trust, non-governmental
organisation, unit or service provider carrying on commercial,
professional, vocational, educational, entertainmental, industrial,
health services or ﬁnancial activities including production, supply,
sale, distribution or service;
(iii) hospitals or nursing homes;
(iv) any sports institute, stadium, sports complex or competition or
games venue, whether residential or not used for training, sports or
other activities relating thereto;
(v) any place visited by the employee arising out of or during the
course of employment including transportation by the employer for
undertaking such journey;
(vi) a dwelling place or a house”
15. Consider next, the composition and role of the LC – which is the
foundational body in the district, especially so for the unorganized sector.
This committee is headed by a nominated chairperson who is an eminent
woman in the ﬁeld of social work and committed to the cause of women;
one member is nominated from the women working in a block/taluka/tehsil
(rural) or ward/municipality (urban); two more, of which at least one has
to be a woman to be nominated amongst NGOs or associations committed
to cause of women or a person familiar with the issues relating to sexual
harassment. Further one must be with legal background/knowledge of the
law, and one must belong to a Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or Other
Backward Class22. An LC is empowered with powers equivalent to a civil
court23 to conduct inquiry, issue summons, enforce attendance, etc., which
is reﬂective of its importance in the framework. The inclusion of nominees
from such NGOs is also helpful, because in a context where LCs may
convey a sense of formality, women ﬁnd it easier to approach local NGOs;

22 As per Section 6 and 7 of the Act.
23 Section 11 of the Act.
INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR. v. 691
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. [S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.]

this is one of the ﬁnding in a 2015 International Labour Organization (ILO)
report24. However as pointed out, there is no avenue in the law for these
NGOs to register or pursue the matter on behalf of such consenting women.
Thus, the spreading of awareness relating to LCs and dispelling the air of
formality, should form a priority of the highest level State, that seeks to
implement the Act.
16. Lastly, it is relevant to note a major limitation of the Act, which
depends on the Union Government to disburse funds to the States, which
using an agency, can transfer the same to the district oﬃcer25. Similarly
Section 20 and 24, which obligate the district oﬃcer and appropriate
government to take steps to publicise the Act, is limited by Section 24
which states that:
“The appropriate Government may, subject to the availability of
ﬁnancial and other resources, —
(a) develop relevant information, education, communication and
training materials, and organise awareness programmes, to advance
the understanding of the public of the provisions of this Act providing
for protection against sexual harassment of woman at workplace;
(b) formulate orientation and training programmes for the members
of the [Local Committee].”
(emphasis supplied)
In the absence of a delineated budget to pay the concerned oﬃcers
and conduct events for awareness and training, various LCs are rendered
infructuous or remain vacant26. Therefore, the requirement of setting the
budget for the implementation of this Act, at each district level, and thereafter
state-level, to ascertain disbursal of grants from the Union Government.

24 ILO, Insights into working conditions in India’s garment (2015) <https://
ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/insights-into-working-conditions-in-indias-
garment-industry/> (accessed on 17.10.2023).
25 Section 8 of the Act.
26 See NHRC’s report on status and Functioning of Local Complaints Committees under
the Act (2019) https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/ﬁles/Status and Functioning of Local
Complaints Committees under the Sexual Harassment.pdf (accessed on 17.10.2023).
692 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

17. In this manner, the Act contemplates a wide scope for both the
aggrieved woman, and the respondent, and place a public duty on the
employers, or LCs as the case may be, to ensure prevention, prohibition
and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment. Operationalizing LCs
and ensuring their eﬀectiveness, remains the key to making these remedies
accessible to the unorganized sector.
Discussion on speciﬁc directions sought by the petitioners
18. The directions prayed for in the present writ petition, can be traced
directly to the obligations and duties set out in the express provisions of
this Act:
Prayer Provision under Public functionary in
the Act charge/ obligation on
(a) Implement the - Union of India, State
provisions of the governments, and union
POSH Act and territories
Rules
(b) N o t i f y a n d Section 5 State and UT governments
appoint district
oﬃcers
(c) Appointing LCs Section 6 and 7 District Oﬃcer
in each district
(d) A p p o i n t i n g Section 6(2) District Oﬃcer
nodal oﬃcers
(e) C o n s t i t u t i n g Section 4 To be constituted by each
ICCs in all employer
workplaces as
deﬁned under s.
2(o)
(f) Ensure reporting Section 21 and District Oﬃcers
and collection 22
of annual
compliance
reports from all
workplaces
INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR. v. 693
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. [S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.]

(g) A n n u a l Section 23 Appropriate government
compliance
reports are
consolidated and
the reports are
published in the
public domain
(h) Publicising the S e c t i o n 2 4 ; Appropriate government;
Act and Rules Section 20(2) District Officer to take
a n d o rg a n i z e measures for engaging
awareness NGOs for creation of
activities awareness
to advance
understanding of
the provisions of
the Act
(i) Gist of important Section 19(b) Duty of each employer
provisions will
be displayed
at all working
places
(j) Framing of rules Section 29 Union Government
and or direction
to clarify aspects
not covered
under the
prevailing Rules
19. Prayer (g) directing the State/UT governments to ensure that the
annual compliance reports collected by the District Oﬃcers are consolidated
and the reports are published in the public domain, requires some consideration.
Section 23 of the Act reads as follows:
“23. Appropriate Government to monitor implementation and maintain
data.- The appropriate government shall monitor the implementation of
this Act and maintain data on the number of cases ﬁled and disposed of
in respect of all cases of sexual harassment at workplaces.”
694 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

While the Act does not contemplate such publication in the public
domain, there is certainly merit in using this anonymised data on cases
lodged and disposed, to consolidate statistics, that will reﬂect eﬃcacy of
the implementation of the Act. Therefore, while there is no need for such
an express direction by this court, the Central Government, and State
Government, as the case may be, in the interest of transparency and good
governance may consider to make these statistics public– the access to
which, would certainly have a positive impact on various stakeholders. This
in turn will also strengthen the monitoring of the implementation of this Act.
20. Prayer (j) seeking the framing of rules and/or directions as
provided in Section 29 of the Act is limited to three lacunae pointed
out by the petitioner: (i) to clarify the role of districts in collecting the
annual compliance reports from ICCs and LCs; (ii) role of district oﬃcers
in collecting ﬁnes for non-compliance of the Act; and (iii) identify the
appropriate authority for collection of ﬁnes. This court has considered the
Rules, as they stand, closely; there is certainly some gaps. On point (i), this
court’s discussion in paragraph 8 clariﬁes the position – although the required
amendment explicitly laying this out in the Rules, would be appropriate.
Points (ii) and (iii) are cause for real concern.
21. Section 26(1) of the Act deﬁnes penalty to be imposed on the
employer for failing to: constitute the ICC under Section 4, conduct inquiries
under Section 13 and 14, submit annual compliance reports as per Section 22,
or contravention of any other provision of the Act or Rules. Contravention
of the Act, attracts a penalty of ₹ 50,000. However, the Rules are woefully
silent on the reporting authority actually responsible for taking note of the
non-compliance, and the public authority empowered to collect the said
ﬁne27. Given the scheme of the Act, it would be recommended that the

27 The other provision which contemplates penalty, is Section 17 [Penalty for publication
or making known contents of complaint and inquiry proceedings] which states:
“17. Where any person entrusted with the duty to handle or deal with the
complaint, inquiry or any recommendations or action to be taken under the provisions
of this Act, contravenes the provisions of section 16, he shall be liable for penalty in
accordance with the provisions of the service rules applicable to the said person or
where no such service rules exist, in such manner as may be prescribed.”
Rule 12 of the POSH Rules has set the ﬁne to be Rs. 5000, which is to be collected by
the employer.
INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR. v. 695
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. [S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.]

District Oﬃcer itself, be made this authority – however, presently since they
are not empowered to take appropriate action against employers for non-
compliance of the Act, it renders the framework rather toothless. Similarly
under Section 26(2) which provides further penalty (including cancellation
of business license or withdrawal of renewal or approval of cancellation
of registration by the government or local authority required for carrying
on their business/activity) on an employer for continuous violations of the
same provisions – does not mention the authority under the Act responsible
for carrying out this function.
Conclusion and Directions
22. Having regard to the above discussion, it is appropriate for this
court to issue the following directions (under the relevant heads) to ensure
the eﬀective implementation of the POSH Act, and render it workable:
A. Coordination between Union Government and State/UT
Governments
i. The Women and Child Development Ministry of every State/
UT, through its Principal Secretary, should consider identifying
a ‘nodal person’ within the Department, to oversee and aid in
coordination as contemplated under the POSH Act. This person
would also be able to coordinate with the Union Government on
matters relating to this Act and its implementation.
ii. Each State/UT Government is to submit a consolidated report of
its compliance with the below directions to the Union Government
within 8 weeks. The latter is hereby directed to consolidate the
various reports, identify any lapses in the compliance by the
State and try to remedy it, before ﬁling a consolidated aﬃdavit
of compliance – detailing the States’ compliance, and the Union
Government’s action taken in regard to the direction within 12
weeks from the date of this judgment.
B. Appointment of public authorities
iii. The concerned Principal Secretary of the State/UT Ministry of
Women and Child [or any other Department, subject to amendment
of the Rules as per direction (vii) below], will personally ensure
696 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

appointment of a district oﬃcer in each district within their
territorial jurisdiction, as contemplated under Section 5 within
four weeks from the date of this judgment.
iv. Thereafter, each appointed district oﬃcer
(a) must in compliance of Section 6(2) appoint nodal oﬃcers in
every block, taluka and tehsil in rural or tribal area and ward
or municipality in the urban area;
(b) must constitute a LC, as contemplated under Section 6 and 7
of the Act; and
(c) ensure the contact details of these nodal oﬃcers, and LCs, shall
be forwarded to the nodal person within the State Government
Ministry of Women and Child Development within 6 weeks
from the date of this judgment.
v. Thereafter, a circular/bulletin containing names of all district
oﬃcers, and their contact details (phone, address, and email),
along with a district wise chart of the various nodal oﬃcers and
their contact details, must be uploaded on the department’s website
(or in the absence of one, on the main State government website)
in a conspicuous location, along with a compiled version of the
Act, Rules, and simple charts/explainers on the basics of the Act,
within 6 weeks from the date of this judgment.
C. Amendments and gaps in Rules that State must ﬁll
vi. The Union Government ought to consider amending the Rules,
so as to operationalise Section 26 of the Act, by recognising a
reporting authority, and/or a ﬁne collecting authority. This direction
must be read in light of the discussion in paragraph 8 (role of
district oﬃcer with regards to annual compliance reports) and
paragraph 21 (on the penalty regime contemplated in the Act and
resulting lacunae in the Rules) above.
vii. The Union Government may also consider amending the Rules so
as to identify one Department (preferably the Women and Child
Department), and creating a ‘nodal person’ post within the said
Department to be responsible for the coordination required in the
INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR. v. 697
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. [S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.]

implementation of the Act [see direction (i)]. This will ensure
greater uniformity in the implementation of the Act across the
country.
D. Training and capacity building
viii. The District Officers and LCs should be mandatorily
trained regarding their important responsibilities. Given their
position in the redressal framework contemplated in the Act,
they must first be sensitised to the nature of sexual harassment,
the gendered interactions that occur in the workspace, etc.
The State Governments, must organise periodic, and regular
training sessions at the District level which are to be attended
by the District Officer, members of the LC, and nodal officers
[ref: Section 24(b)].
E. Larger efforts towards awareness
ix. In furtherance of Section 24, the State/UT Governments, and
Union Government are hereby directed to set out the financial
resources allocated and or needed, to developing educational,
communication and training material for spreading awareness
of the provisions of this Act to the public, and formulate
orientation and training programmes as elaborated in direction
(viii) above. This plan of action, must form part of the
compliance affidavit filed by each State. The discussion in
paragraph 16 is to be read along with this direction.
x. The District Officers, once nominated by the State are hereby
directed to identify the non-governmental organisations
working with women and their protection within the district,
and take action pursuant to their duty under Section 20(b) for
creation of awareness.
xi. The appropriate government or district officers in question,
must also undertake effort to spread awareness on the existence
of LCs, and make them approachable for the unorganized
sector – thus operationalizing the horizontal import of this
Act.
698 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

xii. The directions (iv) and (v) passed in Aureliano Fernandes v.
State of Goa & Ors.28 (supra) cover specifically the direction
to authorities, management and employers to familiarize the
members of the ICCs and LCs of their duties and detailed
step-wise manner in which an enquiry ought to be conducted
on receiving a complaint of sexual harassment; conduct
orientation programmes, workshops, seminars, awareness
programmes, etc. and to educate women employees and
women groups about the Act, Rules, and regulations are
reiterated. The modules prepared by NALSA [as per direction
(vi) in Aureliano Fernandes] to conduct workshops and
organize awareness programmes to sensitise authorities,
managements, employers could be used in this regard.
xiii. It is relevant to add here that the Ministry of Women and Child
Development, Government of India, has prepared a Handbook
for implementation of POSH Act29, which serves as a useful
guide for not just employees seeking information, but also
more pertinently those who are nominated or appointed as
members of the ICs (by the employer) or LCs (by the District
Officer). It is hereby directed that a targeted effort be made to
share this information with each District Officer, who may in
turn disseminate it to their respective LCs, the nodal officers
appointed under Section 6(2), and employers who constitute
their own ICCs.
F. Annual Compliance Reports
xiv. Due compliance with Section 21(1) and (2), and Section 22,
must be undertaken by each District Officer, of the State –
including collecting the reports from the IC/employers (or
information where no report is available), and from the LC,
and preparation of a brief report to be shared with the State

28 Judgment dated 12.05.2023 in Civil Appeal No. 2482/2014.R
29 Government of India, Handbook on Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (2015)
https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/ﬁles/Handbook%20on%20Sexual%20Harassment%20
of%20Women%20at%20Workplace.pdf (accessed on 26.09.2023).
INITIATIVES FOR INCLUSION FOUNDATION & ANR. v. 699
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. [S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.]

government. The State/UT Governments is hereby directed to
create a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) including the
procedure, and timelines for this process, so as to enable it to,
in turn, comply with Section 23 of the Act, i.e., monitoring
implementation and maintaining data. This direction may
be read in light of the discussion contained in paragraph 18
above.
G. Monitoring of ICs and compliance by employers
xv. The directions passed in Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa
& Ors. 30 (supra) address most specifically, the constitution of
ICs – in public establishments [falling broadly within Section
2(o)(i)] and some private establishments – such as bodies
governing professional associations, etc.; those directions are
hereby reiterated, to avoid multiplicity or overlap of efforts.
It is however further, directed that efforts made must be in
line with the scheme of the Act, and through the authorities
so designated for the various roles.
xvi. Similarly, directions are hereby made to hospitals, nursing
homes, sports institutes, stadiums, sports complex, or
competition or games venues [as defined in Section 2(o)(iii)
and (iv)] to establish ICs, and report compliance as per the
duties under this Act.
xvii. The District Officer must be supplied a list of establishments
(compiled by the relevant departments of the State/UT
Government) that fall within the scope of Section 2(o), so
that they may write to them and ensure that they are well
versed with the provisions relating to employers, and their
duties (including constitution of ICC under Section 4, duties
under Section 19, etc.) and are implementing them in letter
and spirit. This will also enable collection of annual reports,
as contemplated under Section 21. The consequent direction
to all private sector workplaces under Section 2(o)(ii) can

30 Judgment dated 12.05.2023 in Civil Appeal No. 2482/2014.
700 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2023] 13 S.C.R.

be passed once the District Officer is able to discern an
exhaustive list of entities.
23. List this matter in the first week of February 2024, for further
compliance.

Headnotes prepared by: Directions issued.
Ankit Gyan

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