Odisha govt urges varsities, colleges to comply with IC norms in 24 hours

Higher Education department on Monday ordered all the state universities and colleges to report compliance on the internal committees (IC) as per Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013, within 24 hours.

 

In a communication to all the registrars of the public and private universities and principals of the aided, unaided and government degree colleges, the department asked for compliance immediately for strict enforcement of Section 4 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act.

 

Under this sub-section, all workplaces that employ more than 10 employees are mandated to set up an internal complaints committee whose role is to address the problem of sexual harassment as well as maintain a secure working environment.

 

The committee must be well represented by women members and external members. The institutions must display the names and phone numbers of all the members of the IC at public points on the campus within the reach of students and display committee members' information in the departmental HIMS portal. The department has also requested the institutions to display photos of geo-tagged campus locations where the information of ICs is displayed

 

Varsities & colleges ordered to file compliance reports

 

In a step towards raising awareness among the students and teaching staff, the HEIs have also been ordered to organize workshops on the Act at the earliest. The department also ordered the adoption of the UGC (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in the Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2015, by the institutions.

 

The move follows the revelation that FM College defaulted on the UGC regulation's requirements to provide ICCs compulsorily. The college had no operational internal complaints committee in place when the Integrated BEd 20-year-old student filed a complaint of sexual harassment by her department HoD on June 30. It was formed one day later.

 

Likewise, the UGC has also recently issued a call to all the HEIs to submit reports attesting to compliance with guidelines on not engaging in sexual harassment within campuses. The HEIs are required to upload the compliance data for the year 2024-25 on the SAKSHAM portal and the University Activity Monitoring portal.