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Leave for up to three months for women facing harassment in government offices

The move comes days after an order clarifying that head of complaints committee is competent authority even if she is of lower rank than accused

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Female government employees who face sexual harassment at the workplace will soon be able to avail leave of up to 90 days. A circular, issued by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) under the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pension, states that it is "considering issuing instructions for the grant of leave to the aggrieved women during the pendency of inquiry" for a period of up to 90 days.

The circular, dated July 14, states that the instructions, which will be amended into the Central Civil Services Act 1972. The circular states that the leave, "may be granted to an aggrieved female government servant on the recommendation of the internal committee or the local committee, as the case may be, during the pendency of inquiry under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. The leave so granted to the aggrieved woman under this rule shall not be debited against the leave account."

An official of the DoPT, involved in the order, said that the leave has been in place since the Act came into order. "We wanted to issue the provision, and invite comments on the same," said the official.

Under section 12, 1(D) of the The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, a female employee has the option to take a leave of up to 90 days if she wants to.

"We must keep in mind that the woman cannot be forced to take leave, and it is optional," said a representative from the Lawyers Collective, adding that it looks like the furtherance of the Act.

The order comes just three days after the DoPT issued another order clarifying the rank of the chairperson of the internal complaints committee when a complaint of sexual harassment arises. The orders, issued on July 11, state that an internal complaints committee should be headed by a woman, and should have women in larger numbers, as per sections 4(1) and 4(2) of The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. And in case a senior woman officer is lacking in the workplace, an officer from another office or competent NGO must be bought in.

The order, an official informed, is mostly to clarify that the decision of the chairperson of the committee stands even in a situation where the accused is of a senior rank than that of the chairperson.

"The matter has been examined in consultation with the Department of Legal Affairs and Ministry of Women & Child Development. It is clarified that the committee constituted in terms of the SHWW (PPR) Act, 2013 is legally competent to hold an inquiry into a case irrespective of the fact that the chairperson of such Committee is lower in rank to the employee against whom the allegations have been made," read the order.

An official involved with the development said that the order was to reiterate that the rank of the official who heads the committee does not matter. "In cases where the head of the committee is a joint secretary and the accused is of a higher rank, the decision of chairperson persists," said the official, adding that concerns over the issue have been raised in the recent past.

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