For safer workplaces
Posted December 9th, 2015, 10:00 AM IST
Ms Gandhi had a simple request from Mr Jaitley’s department — make it mandatory for firms in India to reveal whether they have put in place an Internal Complaints Committee which will probe sexual harassment complaints from women employees. In easier terms, she wants the companies to go public saying yes, we have a cell and sure, we have a provision to investigate problems of such a nature.
Mr Jaitley however, has rejected the request saying “industry representatives were against enhanced disclosures under the Companies Act, 2013 and adding to these may not be desirable”. The Companies Act makes it mandatory for firms to reveal a host of details — assets, liabilities, top salaries, etc. But Ms Gandhi is just asking for a promise. A promise from companies that they do have a cell in place and a mandatory, public record will only help in collecting data. ‘
We check with the experts on their stand:
Maneka Gandhi is right in asking companies to reveal whether they have an internal complaints committee against sexual harassment, or not. With women taking on much more important positions, there is a greater, more important need for such sexual harassment cells. If companies are required to disclose this information under the Companies Act, 2013, they will be required by law to have such a committee. I’m part of Sparsh, the internal complaints committee against sexual harassment for EFLU and I know that there are a lot of such cases. Also, if a company does disclose information about such a committee, and that their employees’ grievances are addressed, people will only be more proud about them.
—Rachna Reddy, Lawyer and Standing Counsel for Income Tax
Every company has a sexual harassment cell, which is an internal complaints committee. This comes under the POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) Act. And that is exclusive of the Companies Act. Bringing that under the Companies Act, will bring in a level of compliance. But, there is great merit in this. While the larger corporations already have cells in place, this will help bring compliance in smaller, mid-level companies. Because, the use of this cell is only when there’s need, that is, when there’s a problem, there are no preventive measures that take place. And that shouldn’t be the case.”
— Purnima Kamble, partner at the law firm Fox Mandal and Associates
It’s extremely important to have a cell in place that looks after cases. This will also encourage more and more women to work and be a part of the corporate industry. It will create a safer working environment for women. But you don’t have to plug it to the Companies Act. There are so many labour laws that are not a part of the Companies Act. It doesn’t have to be disclosed completely to the public as during induction programmes for staff, the policies are anyway made clear to the employees.
- Kukatpally, Old City and Tolichowki made their mark as the city's top street food hubs
- Political leaders attend grand Alia Balai programme in Hyderabad
- Over 7,500 daily steps before surgery tied to fewer complications
- Deepika talks mental health with corporate bosses
- Sweet Shop - Owners of Calcutta and Other Ideas: Taste the universe
- Life in motion
- Witness The Most Riveting Courtroom Drama of The Year
- Mind-Body Synergy: Embracing Profound Connection Between Mental and Physical Health
- Red Haute Alert
- WWF-India Hosts Second Earth Series Talk: "A Tale of Two Cats"
- Hyderabad entrepreneurs ‘Modify’ clothes from aloe vera to orange peel
- How to Apply Onion Juice to Hair
- Patriotism is in thing, it’s Tricolour everywhere
- Celebs too wear fakes of reputed brands
- Elon Musk on fun trail says 'buying Coca Cola next'
More Lifestyle News
- Aditi Rao Hydari misses ‘Heeramandi’ event after wedding
- Bigg Boss winner Munawar Faruqui among 14 detained in Mumbai raid
- Mrunal Thakur follows ‘grandma diet,’ believes in not skipping meals
- Selena Gomez shares makeup-free selfies on Instagram
- Diljit collaborates with Saweetie for ‘Khutti’ Song, says ‘she just landed in Punjab’
- Malaika Arora, Arjun Kapoor, Richa, Ali Fazal, Farah, and more at KJo’s Bash
- Jamie Lever is ‘honoured’ to represent her heritage with Telugu debut film
- Janhvi and Aditya Roy Kapur shine on the ramp for Kalki at Lakme Fashion Week x FDCI
- I am fond of Kate Moss, says Diana Penty, about her fashion icon
- Kriti Kharbanda, Pulkit Samrat share pictures from dreamy wedding
A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Warning
Message: file_get_contents(): http:// wrapper is disabled in the server configuration by allow_url_fopen=0
Filename: views/newsdetails.php
Line Number: 29
Backtrace:
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/views/newsdetails.php
Line: 29
Function: file_get_contents
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 135
Function: view
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 83
Function: newsdetails
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/index.php
Line: 315
Function: require_once
A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Warning
Message: file_get_contents(http://www.indiaaffiliates.in/ads.php?size=300X250): failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found
Filename: views/newsdetails.php
Line Number: 29
Backtrace:
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/views/newsdetails.php
Line: 29
Function: file_get_contents
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 135
Function: view
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/application/controllers/News.php
Line: 83
Function: newsdetails
File: /home5/am2pm/public_html/index.php
Line: 315
Function: require_once