Supreme Court slaps ₹5k costs on 5 States, 1 UT for failure to report POSH Act compliance

The Supreme Court recently imposed costs of ₹5,000 on the States of Manipur, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Union Territory of Pondicherry for their failure to comply with the Court's directives on the implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) [Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa]..A Bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma granted three weeks' time to the defaulting States to submit compliance affidavits subject to payment of costs. "The States of Manipur, Jharkand, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Union Territory of Pondicherry have not complied with the order dated December 3, 2024. Learned counsel for the aforesaid States have sought for some more time to file their affidavits. In the circumstances, we grant three weeks’ time to file their affidavits subject to payment of costs of ₹5,000 payable to the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee within a period of two weeks from today," the Court directed in its February 11 order..On December 3, 2024, the top court had issued detailed directions to ensure effective implementation of the PoSH Act.The Court had underscored the importance of nationwide compliance and directed that the Act's provisions must be uniformly implemented across States and UTs.It had, therefore, passed a slew of directions to ensure effective implementation of the Act including constitution of Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) for all government departments and public sector undertakings and creation of SheBox portals where women can lodge complaints.The December 3 order had outlined detailed measures for ensuring workplace safety for women, stressing the need for District Officers to oversee compliance, Local Complaints Committee to be formed in districts without ICCs, and Nodal Officers to be designated for receiving complaints.It had said that failure to comply would invite penalties under Section 26 of the POSH Act..When the matter was taken up for hearing on February 11, Amicus Curiae Padma Priya told the Bench that States of Nagaland, Goa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttarakand, Orissa, Mizoram, Karnataka, Tripura, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Assam, Haryana, Tamilnadu, Meghalaya, Punjab, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Uttarakhand and and Union Territories of Chandigarh and Andhaman & Nicobar have filed compliance affidavits.However, the States of Manipur, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Union Territory of Pondicherry have not complied with the order, the Court noted..The matter will be heard next on March 25 to consider compliance and enforcement..[Read Order]