Advisory to companies to set up sexual harassment committee

The Chennai district administration Tuesday issued an advisory directing public and private institutions to set up a committee to receive complaints from woman on sexual harassment at workplace.

According to an official release from Collector A Shanmuga Sundaram, the internal complaints committee should consist of members with a majority of them being women with legal background or those having experince in social work.

Those public, private institutions, IT companies, factories, textile shops which have more than 10 employees should constitute the committee, the release said.

Chennai is home to several IT companies and also has manufacturing units of various auto companies, including commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland.

"If a woman faces a harassment in the respective place, she can lodge a complaint with the Committee and the jury would investigate to take any disciplinary action" it said.

The advisory also directed the respective companies, establishments to send a report to the Collector on a quarterly basis, every year.

This comes in the wake of #MeToo movement under which a number of women have spoken on sexual harassment at their workplace and support for them has been pouring in from various quarters.