Bangalore. In a significant judgment regarding cases of sexual harassment at workplaces, a division bench of the Karnataka High Court on Monday held that the findings of the internal committee against the accused are not the sole ground for dismissal. Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S. A bench headed by Vishwajit Shetty had last week stayed the order passed by a single bench judge headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna in this regard on July 20, 2021.
The earlier order had said that in respect of cases of sexual harassment at workplace, the employer should comply with the service rules for imposing major penalties including dismissal.
Sexual harassment case accused U. The petition was filed by Arbi, who is a 60-year-old professor in the Department of Economics at Mangaluru University.
His student had filed a sexual harassment complaint against him with the State and National Commission for Women in April 2018 while serving as the head of the department.
He was found guilty of the charges by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) constituted by the university. In return, the university has issued him a show cause notice as to why he should not be dismissed from service.
The Bench observed that the report of the ICC constituted under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act (PoSH Act) may be a fact-finding report but cannot serve as the sole object of dismissal. .
—AnyTV News
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