Supreme Court: While considering the matter pertaining to proper implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act), the Division Bench of B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan, JJ., in pursuance of the Court’s earlier order dated 3-12-2024, wherein the District Authorities concerned were to survey the number of organisations, (both public sector as well as private), which have already constituted the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC); directed the respondents have this survey conducted now with the assistance of the District Labour Commissioners and the Chief Labour Commissioner of the State. The Court emphasised that the survey shall be conducted within a period of 6 weeks from 12-8-2025 if not already completed.
Referring to Sections 2(o) and 2(p) of the POSH Act, the Court pointed out that it is the duty of an employer to ensure that in a workplace an Internal Complaints Committee is constituted in terms of Section 4 of the POSH Act. It is, hence, the responsibility of the Labour Department to ensure that the Internal Complaints Committee is constituted by every employer of a workplace and if no such Committee has been constituted then to take steps under the provisions of the POSH Act.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner pointing out the Court’s order dated 3-12-2024 and directions issued in Initiatives for Inclusion Foundation v. Union of India, (2024)1 SCC 779, submitted that to assist the Deputy Commissioners/Collectors/District Magistrates to comply with the direction for conducting a survey as directed by the Court, the Chief Labour Commissioner of each State could ensure that the relevant data is collected by the Labour Commissioner or of the equivalent designation and officer in each of the Districts of the States so that the said collection of data by the said Officer could in turn be submitted to the District Officer, and the District Officer could in turn transmit the said data to the Chief Secretaries of the States and the Union Territories who would in turn place the relevant data before this Court.
The Amicus Curiae further submitted that not all the States and Union Territories have complied with the directions in order dated 3-12-2024. The Amicus also endorsed the suggestion of including the Labour Departments to conduct the district-wise survey.
While perusing the matter, the Court took note of the submissions made by NALSA wherein they informed the Court about orders issued which have been disseminated to the State Authorities and the availability of the relevant information on the website of NALSA for implementation of the POSH Act. The Court also took note of the creation of National Woman Helpline-181, Cyber Crime Helpline-1930 and Toll Free National Legal Aid Helpline-15100, which could be of assistance to an aggrieved woman to register her complaint or seek legal aid and advice under the provisions of the POSH Act.
Issuing the afore-stated Directions on conducting of survey with the help of District and State Labour Department, the Court directed the information collected from the survey shall be provided to the Amicus for compilation and to the counsels for the respective States and UTs. The Court expressed its expectation that counsels for the States and UTs to issue necessary advice on the aforesaid directions and to impress upon the authorities referred above to comply with the directions issued regarding the survey to be conducted and completed. The States may also ensure that the data that has already been collected is on-boarded in the She-box platform which has been created by the Department of Women and Child.
The matter has now been listed on 14-10-2025.
[Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 1749, decided on 12-8-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Ms. Padma Priya, Amicus Curiae
For Petitioner(s): Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, AOR Ms. Sanjana Grace Thomas, Adv. Ms. Esha Shekhar, Adv. Ms. Kritika, Adv. Mr. D.P.singh, Adv. Ms. Anchal Kanthed, Adv. Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR By Courts Motion, AOR
For Respondent(s): Mr. Sahil Bhalaik, AOR Mr. Tushar Giri, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Anil Khanna, Adv. Mr. Ritik Arora, Adv. Mr. Shivam Mishra, Adv. Mr. Gowtham Polanki, Adv. Mr. Sewa Singh, Adv. Ms. Ruchira Gupta, Adv. Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR Ms. Pooja Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Verma, Adv. Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv. Mr. Surjendu Sankar Das, AOR Mr. Vishwajeet Singh Shekhawat, Adv. Mr. P K Bajaj, Adv. Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Ms. Pooja Singh, Adv. Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mr. Mohd Irshad, A.A.G. Mr. Siddhant Sharma, AOR Ms. G. Indira, AOR Mr. P Gandepan, Adv. Ms. Amrita Kumari, Adv. Ms. Anjali Singh, Adv. Ms. Raniba Pangnila, Adv. Mr. Tanmaya Agarwal, AOR Mr. Wrick Charttjee, Adv. Mrs. Aditi Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Mr. Tanish Arora, Adv. Mr. Parag Chaturvedi, Adv. Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Vikramjeet Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Ms. Manisha Chava, Adv. Ms. Anupriya Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Riddhi Jadd, Adv. Mr. V Chitambaresh, Adv. Mrs. Rekha Pandey, Adv. Mr. Shantnu Sharma, Adv. Mrs. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mrs. Swati Ghildiyal, Adv. Mr. Annirudh Sharma Ii, Adv. Mr. Tanmay Mehta, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mr. S K Singhania, Adv. Mr. B K Satija, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Karol, Adv. Mr. Jagdish Chandra, Adv. Mr. K.M.Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Kanu Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Tadimalla Bhaskar Gowtham, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kr Verma, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Singh Chouhan, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Mukul Singh, Adv. Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Jyoti P, Adv. Ms. Anika Bansal, Adv. Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR Ms. Neha Rai, Adv. Ms. M. Harshini, Adv. Mr. Sudarshan Lamba, AOR Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. Shashank Bajpai, Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Noor Rampal, Adv. Ms. Rekha Pandey, Adv. Ms. Alina Masod, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Kr. Panday, Adv. Ms. Alabhya Dhamija, Adv. Mr. Shubhendu Anand, Adv. Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, Adv. Ms. Abhipsa Mohanty, Adv Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Deepak Thukral, A.A.G. Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, AOR Mr. Nikunj Gupta, Adv. Ms. Aakanksha, Adv. Ms. Sabarni Som, Adv. Mr. Aman Dev Sharma, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Goyal, Adv. Mr. T. V. Surendranath, Adv. Mr. Ramendra Nath Makhal, Adv. Mr. Kirtikar Sukul, Adv. Ms. Pragya Baghel, Adv. Mr. Shantanu Sagar, AOR Mr. Gunjesh Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Prakash Kumarmangalam, Adv. Mr. Keshav Khandelwal, Adv. Mr. Manoneet Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Kumar Gupta, Adv. Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Santhosh K, Adv. Mrs. Devika A.l., Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.k. Nayak, Adv. Mr. Vikas Bansal, Adv. Mr. Aditya S. Pandey, Adv. Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv. Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Ms. Ripul Swati Kumari, Adv. Mr. Krishna Rastogi, Adv. Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Dr. Abhishek Atrey, Adv. Ms. Ishita Bist, Adv. Ms. Ambika Atrey, Adv. Mr. Navneet Gupta, Adv. Ms. Radhika Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Jyoti P, Adv. Ms. Anika Bansal, Adv. Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Ms. Pooja Singh, Adv. Mr. Surjendu Sankar Das, AOR Mr. Vishwajeet Singh Shekhawat, Adv Mr. P K Bajaj, Adv. Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Ms. Ripul Swati Kumari, Adv. Mr. Krishna Rastogi, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR Mr. Aditya Vaibhav Singh- G.a., Adv. Mr. Raghvendra Shukla, Adv. Ms. Chhavi Khandelwal, Adv. Ms. Saakshi Singh Rawat, Adv. Mr. Sudarshan Singh Rawat, AOR Mr. Sunny Sachin Rawat, Adv. Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Mr. Arjun D Singh, Adv. Ms. Ishika Neogi, Adv. Mr. Mohd Irshad, A.A.G. Mr. Siddhant Sharma, AOR Mr. Sudarshan Lamba, AOR Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. Shashank Bajpai, Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Noor Rampal, Adv. Ms. Rekha Pandey, Adv. Ms. Alina Masod, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Kr. Panday, Adv. Ms. Alabhya Dhamija, Adv. Mr. Shubhendu Anand, Adv. Mr. Sahil Bhalaik, AOR Mr. Tushar Giri, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Anil Khanna, Adv. Mr. Ritik Arora, Adv. Mr. Shivam Mishra, Adv. Mr. Gowtham Polanki, Adv. Mr. Sewa Singh, Adv. Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Santhosh K, Adv. Mrs. Devika A.l., Adv. Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Ms. Bipasa Tripathy, Adv. Mr. K.m Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Kanu Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Tadimalla Bhaskar Gowtham, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kr Verma, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Singh Chouhan, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Mukul Singh, Adv. Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, AOR Mr. Aishwary Jaiswal, Adv. Mr. Ashzad Mubarak, Adv. Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Ms. Swarupma Chaturvedi, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Sinha, Adv. Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv. Ms. Priyanka Terdal, Adv. Mr. Divyanshu Kumar Srivastava, AOR Mr. Saurabh Pandey, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, Adv. Ms. Abhipsa Mohanty, Adv. Ms. Manju Jetley, AOR Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Vikramjeet Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. V Chitambaresh, Adv. Mrs. Rekha Pandey, Adv. Mr. Shantnu Sharma, Adv. Mrs. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mrs. Swati Ghildiyal, Adv. Mr. Annirudh Sharma Ii, Adv. Mr. Tanmay Mehta, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mr. S K Singhania, Adv. Mr. B K Satija, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Karol, Adv. Mr. Jagdish Chandra, Adv. Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR Ms. Neha Rai, Adv. Ms. M. Harshini, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Sarthak Karol, Adv. Mr. V.Chitambaresh, Adv. Mr. Shantnu Sharma, Adv. Mr. Annirudh Sharma-ii, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mr. S.K.singhania, Adv. Mr. B.K.satija, Adv. Mr. Manish, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR Mr. Tanmaya Agarwal, AOR Mr. Wrick Charttjee, Adv. Mrs. Aditi Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR Ms. Purvat Wali, Adv. Mr. Piyush Vyas, Adv. Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR Ms. Yashmita Pandey, Adv. Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Ms. Shruti Bisht, AOR Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv. Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Mr. Tanish Arora, Adv. Mr. Parag Chaturvedi, Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.k. Nayak, Adv. Mr. Vikas Bansal, Adv. Mr. Aditya S. Pandey, Adv. Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Chawla, Adv. Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Mr. Varun Verma, Adv. Mr. Javed Raza, Adv. Mr. Niharika Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Sanchitharga, AOR Mr. Kunal Rana, Adv. Mr. Bhanu Pratap singh, Adv. Mr. Shaswat Jaiswal, Adv.
