Gujarat High Court
Patel Rajendrakumar Natavarla vs State Of Gujarat & 3 on 19 April, 2016
Author: J.B.Pardiwala
Bench: J.B.Pardiwala
C/SCA/16752/2015 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 16752 of 2015
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PATEL RAJENDRAKUMAR NATAVARLA....Petitioner(s)
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & 3....Respondent(s)
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Appearance:
MR ANVESH V VYAS, ADVOCATE for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MR SWAPNESHWAR GOUTAM, AGP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
MR AMIT N CHAUDHARY, ADVOCATE for the Respondent(s) No. 3
MR VH DESAI, ADVOCATE for the Respondent(s) No. 4
NOTICE SERVED BY DS for the Respondent(s) No. 2
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA
Date : 19/04/2016
ORAL ORDER
By this writ-application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner, serving as the Teacher, has prayed for the following reliefs :
"(A) Be pleased to grant this petition.
(B) Be pleased to pass necessary order directing the respondent no.1 to take necessary action and to initiate departmental inquiry against the head master.
(C) Be pleased to pass any such or further order/s as it may deem fit by this Hon'ble Court."
On 7th January 2016, the following order was passed :
"1. Shri Anvesh Vyas, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, has in Page 1 of 5 HC-NIC Page 1 of 5 Created On Fri Apr 22 01:01:48 IST 2016 C/SCA/16752/2015 ORDER support of his submissions relied upon the decision of Apex Court in the case of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan and others, reported in (1997) 6 SCC 241, which has been followed in a decision of the Apex Court in the case of Medha Kotwal Lele v. Union of India and others, reported in AIR 2013 SC 93 as well as a decision of the Apex Court in the case of Seema Lepcha v. State of Sikkim and others, reported in (2013) 11 SCC 641, to urge that the guidelines and directions issued by the Apex Court in these decisions as well as the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') have not been complied with by the respondent-authority in the case of the petitioner. The Apex Court has been categorical in the decision of Medha Kotwal Lele (supra) that the State functionaries, private and public undertakings/ institutions shall provide for sufficient mechanism to comply with the directions issued by the Apex Court in the decision of Vishaka (supra). It would be profitable to reproduce relevant paragraphs from the decision in the case of Seema Lepcha (supra), which read as under :
"44. In what we have discussed above, we are of the considered view that guidelines in Vishaka should not remain symbolic and the following further directions are necessary until legislative enactment on the subject is in place :
44.1 The States and Union Territories which have not yet carried out adequate and appropriate amendments in their respective Civil Services Conduct Rules (By whatever name these Rules are called) shall do so within two months from today by providing that the report of the Complaints Committee shall be deemed to be an inquiry report in a disciplinary action under such Civil Services Conduct Rules. In other words, the disciplinary authority shall treat the report/findings etc.of the Complaints Committee as the findings in a disciplinary inquiry against the delinquent employee and shall act on such report accordingly. The findings and the report of the Complaints Committee shall not be treated as a mere preliminary investigation or inquiry leading to a disciplinary action but shall be treated as a finding/report in an inquiry into the misconduct of the delinquent.
44.2 The States and Union Territories which have not carried out amendments in the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Rules shall now carry out amendments on the same lines, as noted above in clause (i) within two months.
44.3 The States and Union Territories shall form adequate number of Complaints Committees so as to ensure that they function at taluka level, district level and State level. Those States and/or Union Territories which have formed only one Committee for the entire State shall now form adequate number of Complaints Committees within two months from today. Each of such Complaints Committees shall be headed by a woman and as far as possible in such Committees an independent member shall be associated.
44.4 The State functionaries and private and public sector undertakings/ organisations/bodies/institutions etc.shall put in place sufficient mechanism to ensure full implementation of the Vishaka guidelines and further provide that if the alleged harasser is found guilty, the complainant - victim is not forced to work with/under such harasser and where appropriate and possible the alleged harasser should be transferred. Further provision should be made that Page 2 of 5 HC-NIC Page 2 of 5 Created On Fri Apr 22 01:01:48 IST 2016 C/SCA/16752/2015 ORDER harassment and intimidation of witnesses and the complainants shall be met with severe disciplinary action.
44.5 The Bar Council of India shall ensure that all bar associations in the country and persons registered with the State Bar Councils follow the Vishaka guidelines. Similarly, Medical Council of India, Council of Architecture, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Company Secretaries and other statutory Institutes shall ensure that the organisations, bodies, associations, institutions and persons registered/affiliated with them follow the guidelines laid down by Vishaka. To achieve this, necessary instructions/circulars shall be issued by all the statutory bodies such as Bar Council of India, Medical Council of India, Council of Architecture, Institute of Company Secretaries within two months from today. On receipt of any complaint of sexual harassment at any of the places referred to above the same shall be dealt with by the statutory bodies in accordance with the Vishaka guidelines and the guidelines in the present order.
45. We are of the view that if there is any non-compliance or non- adherence to the Vishaka guidelines, orders of this Court following Vishaka and the above directions, it will be open to the aggrieved persons to approach the respective High Courts. The High Court of such State would be in a better position to effectively consider the grievances raised in that regard."
2. Having heard both the sides for a while and having also taken note of the Women Complaints Redressal Committee formed at the level of the District Education Officer, the respondent-State shall place on record by way of an affidavit-in-reply to be filed by an officer not below the rank of the Joint Secretary, as to in what manner the decision in the case of Vishaka (supra), which has been followed in a decision of the Apex Court in the case of Medha Kotwal Lele (supra) as well as a decision of the Apex Court in the case of Seema Lepcha (supra), have been complied with.
Let the matter appear on January 13, 2016."
An affidavit-in-reply has been filed on behalf of the respondent no.1 duly by the Additional Secretary, Education Department, inter alia, stating as under :
"7. I say and submit that the Education Department has given instructions vide communication dated 19.02.2014 to all the Head of the Departments namely Commissioner of Schools, Commissioner of Higher Education, Commissioner of Technical Education, Project Director - Gujarat Council of Primary Education, The Chairman -- Gujarat State Examination Board, The Director - Primary Education, The Director -- Literacy and Continuing Education Department, The Director - Gujarat Institute of Educational Technology to formulate internal complaints committee under the provisions of section 4 of the Act. A copy of the communication dated 19.02.2014 is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure R-VIII. I say and submit that apart from these institutions, the Director of Gujarat State Tax Board and the Chairman of Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board have also constituted internal complaint committees of their own.Page 3 of 5
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8. I say and submit that the Gujarat Council of Educational Research and Training (GCERT) which is one of the head of the department under the Education Department and which performs the task of imparting training to the teachers has also given instructions to in all 26 offices functioning under the GCERT in various districts across the State for making provisions for constitution of internal complaint committee of their own for the grievance redressal of complaints of sexual harassment. A copy of the list of the 26 offices wherein such internal complaint committee has been constituted is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure R-IX.
9. I say and submit that apart from the aforesaid offices, all the Government Engineering and Polytechnic colleges have also constituted their internal complaint committees for redressal of grievance with respect to complaints received at their end. I further say and submit that the offices of the in all 33 District Education Officers in different districts of the State have also framed and constituted their own grievance redressal committee. Annexure R-X colly. is the copies of orders regarding grievance redressal committee formed by Deptt's Heads of Deptt and offices under their control viz; NC.C., Commissioner of Schools, Commissioner of Higher Education, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Commr. of Technical Education, District Primary Officers, District Education Officers and District Education and Training Centres (DIET)
10. I say and submit that therefore, the State respondents more particularly, the Education Department has taken all the necessary steps at their end to follow the guidelines issued by the Hon'ble Apex Court with respect to dealing with the cases of sexual harassment by formulating the grievance redressal committees in various offices under the department. I say and submit that after the implementation and operation of the new act of Sexual Harassment of women at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, the concerned offices under the Education Department have also formed their internal complaint committees to meet with and to take into account the complaints of sexual harassment received in their offices under the provisions contemplated under section 4 of the Act."
Mr.Goutam, the learned AGP, pointed out that an appropriate inquiry has already been initiated and the same is in progress.
This writ-application is disposed of with a direction to complete the inquiry at the earliest in accordance with law and take an appropriate decision thereafter. Let this inquiry be completed preferably within a period of two months from today.
With the above, this writ-application is disposed of. Direct service is permitted.
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