The Kerala High Court has held that an institution’s Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) can inquire into a sexual harassment complaint against the director of an institution, if the person (the director) does not have full control over its affairs, and was appointed by the institution’s executive committee.

The court went on to dismiss an appeal that was filed by the appellant, who served as the Director of Integrated Rural Technology Center, Palakkad, and was accused by an employee under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act). The ICC of the institution had taken up the complaint and directed him to appear before it, after which the Director challenged before the HC the jurisdiction of the ICC in investigating the matter.

The HC, after considering the relevant sections of the POSH Act, dismissed the appeal and stated that if a complaint of sexual harassment is raised by an employee in the workplace from the hands of another employee, then the matter has to be enquired into by the ICC. If the complaint is against the employer himself or if an ICC is not constituted, then the said complaint has to be enquired into by the local committee.