Internal COMPLaints COMMIttee (ICC)

 

Sexual harassment infringes on the following two fundamental rights provided by the Constitution of India: One is the right of a woman to gender equality under Article 14 and the other is the woman’s right to life and live with dignity under Article 21. In pursuance of University Grants Commission (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2015 read with The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the College is constituted as under to deal with complaints relating to Sexual harassment at the work place. The main motto of this committee is to publicly commit itself to a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment.

 

Composition of ICC

  • 1.  Presiding Officer, who shall be a woman employee at a senior level
  • 2.  Two Members faculty members who should preferably be committed to the cause of women or who have had experience in social work or have legal knowledge.
  • 3.  Two non-teaching staff members who should preferably be committed to the cause of women or who have had experience in social work or have legal knowledge.
  • 4.  Three students, elected through transparent democratic procedure.
  • 5.  One from amongst non-governmental organizations or associations committed to the cause of women or a person familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment
  • 6.  At least half of the total Members of the ICC should be women.
  • 7.  Person in senior administrative positions in the institution, shall not be members of ICC in order to ensure autonomy of their functioning.

Tenure of ICC

The term of office of the members of the ICC shall be period of three years. Institution may also employ a system whereby one-third of the members of the ICC may change every year. The constitution of the ICC for every academic year will be shown separately on the website.

 

Objectives of ICC

    • To create awareness about what constitutes sexual harassment including hostile environment harassment and quid pro quo harassment;
    • To develop a policy against sexual harassment of women at the institution.
    • To reinforce commitment to create campus free from discrimination, harassment, retaliation or sexual assault at all levels.
    • To ensure the implementation of the policy in letter and spirit through proper reporting of the complaints and their follow-up procedures.
    • To uphold the commitment of the institution to provide an environment free of gender-based discrimination.
    • To promote a social and psychological environment to raise awareness on sexual harassment in its various forms.
    • To create a secure physical and social environment to deter any act of sexual harassment.
    • To evolve a permanent mechanism for the prevention and redressal of sexual harassment cases and other acts of gender-based violence at the institution.

 

Jurisdiction

The policy and the rules and regulations would apply to all students, faculty and non-teaching staff members. The policy and the rules and regulations would also apply to service providers and outsiders who may be within the territory of the institution at time of commission of the act coming under the purview of the policy. Any female employee (faculty, non-teaching staff, or student) of Goa Vidyaprasark Mandal’s Gopal Govind Poy Raiturcar College of Commerce & Economics can seek redressal from the ICC.

 

Power and Duties

The committee is not to act as moral police neither will it intrude on anyone’s privacy. The role of the Committee is to create awareness about sexual harassment and to deal with and recommend punishment for non-consensual acts of sexual harassment, and not to curtail sexual expression within the campus. Some of the power and duties of ICC are as follows:

    1. 1.  To create and ensure a safe environment that is free of sexual harassment, including safety from persons/visitors coming into contact at the workplace.
    2. 2.  Gender Sensitization involves creating awareness about issues of gender and sexuality and working towards and creating an enabling environment of gender justice where all can work together with a sense of personal security and dignity.
    3. 3.  To provide the mechanism for registering complaints in safe, accessible, and sensitive manner.

 

Definition of Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment means:

  1. 1.   An unwanted conduct with sexual undertones if it occurs or which is persistent and which demeans, humiliates or creates a hostile and intimidating environment or is calculated to induce submission by actual or threatened adverse consequences and includes any one or more or all of the following unwelcome acts or behaviour (whether directly or by implication), namely;
  • Any unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature
  • Demand or request for sexual favours
  • Making sexually coloured remarks
  • Physical contact and advances
  • Showing pornography
  1.  2.Any one (or more than one or all) of the following circumstances, if it occurs or is present in relation or connected with any behaviour that has explicit or implicit sexual undertones:
  • Implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment as quid pro quo for sexual favours
  • Implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in the conduct of work
  • Implied or explicit threat about the present or future status of the person concerned
  • Creating an intimidating offensive or hostile learning environment
  • Humiliating treatment likely to affect the health, safety dignity or physical integrity of the person concerned.

Process of making complaint of sexual harassment

  1. 1.  An aggrieved person is required to submit a written complaint to the ICC within three months from the date of the incident and in case of a series of incidents within a period of three months from the date of the last incident.
  2. 2.  Provided that where such complaint cannot be made in writing, the Presiding Officer or any member of the ICC shall render all reasonable assistance to the person for making the complaint in writing
  3. 3.  Provided further that the ICC may, for the reasons to be accorded in the writing, extend the time limit not exceeding three months, if it is satisfied that the circumstances were such which prevented the person from filing a complaint within the said period.
  4. 4.  Friends, relatives, Colleagues, Co-students, Psychologist, or any other associate of the victim may file the complaint in situations where the aggrieved person is unable to make a complaint on account of physical or mental in capacity or death.

Process of conducting Inquiry

  1. 1.  The ICC shall, upon receipt of the complaint, send one copy of the complaint to the respondent within a period of seven days of such receipt.
  2. 2.  Upon receipt of the copy of the complaint, the respondent shall file his or her reply to the complaint along with the list of documents, and names and addresses of witnesses within a period of ten days.
  3. 3.  The inquiry has to be completed within a period of ninety days from the receipt of the complaint. The inquiry report, with recommendations, if any, has to be submitted within ten days from the completion of the inquiry to the Executive Authority of the HEI.
  4. 4.  Copy of the findings or recommendations shall also be served on both parties to the complaint.
  5. 5.  The Executive Authority of the HEI shall act on the recommendations of the committee within a period of thirty days from the receipt of the inquiry report, unless an appeal against the findings is filed within that time by either party.
  6. 6.  An appeal against the findings or /recommendations of the ICC may be filed by either party before the Executive Authority of the HEI within a period of thirty days from the date of the recommendations.
  7. 7.  If the Executive Authority of the HEI decides not to act as per the recommendations of the ICC, then it shall record written reasons for the same to be conveyed to ICC and both the parties to the proceedings.
  8. 8.  If on the other hand it is decided to act as per the recommendations of the ICC, then a show cause notice, answerable within ten days, shall be served on the party against whom action is decided to be taken. The Executive Authority of the HEI shall proceed only after considering the reply or hearing the aggrieved person.
  9. 9.  The aggrieved party may seek conciliation in order to settle the matter. No monetary settlement should be made as a basis of conciliation. The HEI shall facilitate a conciliation process through ICC, as the case may be, once it is sought. The resolution of the conflict to the full satisfaction of the aggrieved party wherever possible, is preferred to purely punitive intervention.
  10. 10.  The identities of the aggrieved party or victim or the witness or the offender shall not be made public or kept in the public domain especially during the process of the inquiry.

 

Action against frivolous complaint

To ensure that the provisions for the protection of employees and students from sexual harassment do not get misused, provisions against false or malicious complaints have to be made and publicised within all HEIs. If the ICC concludes that the allegations made were false, malicious or the complaint was made knowing it to be untrue, or forged or misleading information has been provided during the inquiry, the complainant shall be liable to be punished as per the provisions of sub-regulations (1) of regulations 10, if the complainant happens to be an employee and as per sub-regulation (2) of that regulation, if the complainant happens to be a student. However, the mere inability to substantiate a complaint or provide adequate proof will not attract attention against the complainant. Malicious intent on the part of the complainant shall not be established without an inquiry, in accordance with the procedure prescribed, conducted before any action is recommended.

 

 

Internal Complaints Committee / Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Committee

1.

Mrs. Ana Falleiro

—

Presiding Officer

2.

Dr. Raina Pinto

—

Member

3.

Mrs. Anita Carvalho   

—

Member (Head Clerk)

4.

Mr. Satyawan Gaonkar

—

Member

5.

Adv. Deepali Kare

—

Member

6.

Mrs. Anita alias Sushanti Kavlekar 

—

Member (President NAARI SHAKTI, Ponda)

7.

Ms. Kruta Jadhav

—

U.G. Student

8.

Ms. Sanjana S. Majelkar

—

P.G. Student

Prevention-of-Sexual-Harassment-Act

UGC-Regulation-Prevention-and-Prohibition