Srinagar- If a statute requires a thing to be done in a particular manner that thing has to be done in that manner alone, the High Court of J&K and Ladakh observed as it held a belated complaint under sexual assault at workplace against an official of Income Tax department as non-maintainable.
Allowing a petition filed by the official of Income Tax department calling into question cognizance and subsequent recommendation by Internal Complaints Committee of the department on a complaint filed by woman employee after about year and half of the alleged incident of sexual assault, a bench of Justice Javed Iqbal Wani observed that in terms of the section 9 of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act 2013 any aggrieved woman may make, in writing, a complaint of sexual harassment at workplace to the Internal Committee if so constituted, or the Local Committee, in case it is not so constituted, within a period of three months from the date of incident and in case of a series of incidents, within a period of three months from the date of last incident.
“Record reveals that the respondent 4 herein (woman employee) admittedly filed the complaint before ICC (Internal Complaints Committee [of the department]) on 16th of October 2017 in respect of the alleged incident dated 25th of April 2016, much beyond the period prescribed for filing such complaint under Section 9 of the Act of 2013,” the court said.
Under these circumstances, the court said, the complaint filed by the woman employee against the petitioner (official) under the Act of 2013 on 16 October 2017 regarding an alleged incident dated 25th of April 2016 “indisputably could not have been either entertained or else taken cognizance of by the ICC and dealt with thereafter.”
“Thus, the preliminary objection qua the maintainability of the complaint filed by respondent 4 herein (woman) against the petitioner herein (official) before ICC raised by counsel for the petitioner, is found to be legally sustainable rendering the impugned complaint filed by respondent 4 (woman), taken cognizance of by the ICC, and the recommendation made therein illegal and invalid on the basis of settled position of law.” The court said underlining that if a statute requires a thing to be done in a particular manner, that thing has to be done in that manner alone.
“Having held the complaint in question non-maintainable and proceedings initiated thereon invalid, the rest of the grounds urged by the petitioner herein in the instant petition against the complaint inasmuch as the proceedings conducted thereon by the ICC including the recommendations made thereof pale into insignificance and need not be adverted to,” the court added.
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