Internal Complaints Committee

Facts for Prelims
 

Internal Complaints Committee
 

News: Government’s MC Mary Kom-headed panel that looked into allegations of sexual harassment by some of the nation’s top wrestlers against WFI Chief flagged the issue that there was no Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), as mandated by law under the 2013 Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act.
 

What is ICC?
 The ICC was designed to be the first port of call for any grievance under the PoSH Act, a key element needed to create a safe workplace environment for women.
 As per the law, it needs to have a minimum of four members – at least half of them women – of whom one shall be an external member, preferably from an NGO or an association that works for women’s empowerment or a person familiar with issues related to sexual harassment, like a lawyer.
 In fact, a functional ICC is one of the key conditions set up by the Ministry of Sports to grant annual recognition to the federations.
 It was found that as many as 16 of the 30 national sports federations do not meet this mandatory compliance.