Punjab and Haryana High Court: In a Public Interest Litigation (‘PIL’) seeking directions to ensure constitution of a Gender Sensitization and Internal Complaints Committee in all the District and Subdivision (Tehsil) Bar Associations, the Division Bench of GS Sandhawalia, ACJ and Lapita Banerji, J. impleaded Union of India.
Considering that the petitioners who brought the instant writ PIL were female members of the Bar Association, the Court expressed that the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 particularly protecting women employees, needed to be kept in mind since the petitioners would not fall within the purview of definition as an employee of the Bar association in a strict manner.
Therefore, the Court impleaded Union of India through the Secretary of Department of Social Security, Women and Child Development as well as Ministry of Law and Justice as respondents in the instant case.
The Court scheduled the next hearing of the instant matter for 21-05-2024.
[Kanu Sharma v. State of Punjab, 2024 SCC OnLine P&H 1030, Order dated 18-03-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioners: Advocate Jagtar Singh Sidhu
For Respondents: Additional Advocate General Saurav Khurana, Additional Advocate General Deepak Balyan, Advocate Shubreet Kaur Saron
