ICC Findings Under POSH Act Are Binding, Says Allahabad High Court

In a significant ruling strengthening workplace harassment jurisprudence, the Allahabad High Court has held that recommendations of an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 are binding on employers and cannot be treated as merely advisory. The judgment was delivered by Justice Manish Mathur in Km. Sunita Devi v. State of U.P. The case arose after ICC members were suspended for submitting a report that found sexual harassment allegations against a State Tax Department officer unproved.

The petitioners argued that they had acted in a quasi-judicial capacity and could not be punished simply because authorities disagreed with their conclusions. Accepting this contention, the Court observed that the POSH Act provides a complete statutory mechanism for inquiry and appeal, making ICC findings conclusive unless challenged under the Act itself.

The Court clarified that employers cannot initiate parallel inquiries into the same allegations after an ICC report. It further held that disciplinary proceedings against ICC members require prima facie evidence of misconduct, mala fides, or bias, and cannot be based merely on disagreement with their findings.

Holding the suspension orders to be cursory and lacking application of mind, the Court quashed them while granting liberty to authorities to proceed afresh in accordance with law.