In short. In a central government office, the Internal Committee that hears a sexual harassment complaint also acts as the inquiring authority under the disciplinary rules. So the inquiry has to meet two sets of standards: the POSH Act's protections for the woman who complains, and the CCA Rules' fair hearing for the employee accused. A complaint is normally made within three months, and the inquiry is meant to finish within 90 days, though many take longer. Whichever side you are on, put everything in writing from the first day and keep copies.
Is this your situation?
- You are a woman employee in a central office and a colleague or senior has harassed you.
- You complained, and months later nothing seems to have happened.
- You want to be moved away from the person, or need leave, while the inquiry is on.
- A complaint has been made against you and you have been asked to appear before the Internal Committee.
- The Committee recorded statements without letting you see them or ask questions.
- You have received a chargesheet or a penalty order based on the Committee's report.
- You believe the complaint against you is false and want to know what can be done.
One committee, two jobs
The Internal Committee in a ministry, department or office does two things at once in a central government setting. Under the POSH Act it receives and inquires into complaints of sexual harassment. Under the proviso to Rule 14(2) of the CCS (CCA) Rules, it is treated as the inquiring authority appointed by the disciplinary authority, and is to hold the inquiry, as far as practicable, in the manner the CCA Rules lay down. The Supreme Court made clear in Medha Kotwal Lele v. Union of India (2012) that the committee's report is to be treated as the inquiry report in disciplinary proceedings, not as a preliminary step.
That double role is the key to most of these cases. For the woman who complains, it means the report can lead directly to a major penalty without a second inquiry. For the employee accused, it means the committee must give the protections of a Rule 14 inquiry: a written charge, copies of the evidence relied on, a chance to cross-examine witnesses and to lead his own evidence, and a defence assistant. When the committee forgets one role and acts only in the other, the proceedings become vulnerable.
Sexual harassment is also expressly misconduct for every central government servant under Rule 3C of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, which forbids it and requires those in charge of a workplace to take steps to prevent it.
If you are making the complaint
- Write it down and date it. A complaint under Section 9 of the POSH Act must be in writing. If you cannot write it yourself, a committee member is expected to help. Give dates, places, words used and the names of anyone who saw or heard anything.
- Watch the time limit. The complaint should be made within three months of the incident, or of the last incident if there was a series. The committee can extend this by another three months if it is satisfied that circumstances prevented you from complaining earlier, so a short delay is not fatal.
- Ask for interim relief in writing. Under Section 12 you may ask for your own transfer or the other person's, for leave of up to three months, or for him to be restrained from assessing your work. Central government employees may also get special leave of up to 90 days during the inquiry on the committee's recommendation, under DoPT's 2016 instructions.
- Keep your evidence safe. Screenshots, emails, call logs, diary notes written at the time and the names of people you confided in are often what decides the case.
- You can choose conciliation, but you do not have to. Section 10 allows a settlement before the inquiry at your request, but no monetary settlement can be its basis. Nobody may pressure you into it.
- Retaliation is itself a matter to raise. Hostile postings, adverse remarks or isolation after a complaint can be brought before the committee and the disciplinary authority.
If the complaint is against you
- Do not contact the complainant. Even a well meant message to 'sort it out' can be read as intimidation and may become a separate charge.
- Ask for the complaint and the evidence in writing. You are entitled to know what you are accused of, and to see the documents and statements that will be used against you.
- Insist on the Rule 14 safeguards. A written charge, inspection of documents, the right to cross-examine witnesses (which the committee may arrange in a manner that protects the complainant), a defence assistant who is a government servant, and a chance to lead your own evidence.
- Reply calmly and specifically. General denials and attacks on the complainant's character harm your case. Address each allegation with dates, your own whereabouts and documents.
- Check the committee's composition. If the committee lacks an external member, or the presiding officer is junior to you, raise it at the outset in writing.
- Keep working normally. Suspension or transfer may follow. Neither is a finding of guilt. The page on the rights of an employee accused in an ICC inquiry goes into more detail.
The provisions that apply in a central office
Section 4, POSH Act, 2013
Every office with ten or more employees must have an Internal Committee. Its presiding officer is a woman employed at a senior level, at least two members are employees committed to the cause of women or with legal knowledge or social work experience, and one member comes from an outside organisation working for women. At least half the members must be women.
Sections 9 to 14, POSH Act, 2013
Section 9: written complaint within three months, extendable by three months. Section 10: conciliation at the woman's request. Section 11: inquiry under the respondent's service rules, to be completed within 90 days. Section 12: interim relief during the inquiry. Section 13: report to the employer within ten days of completing the inquiry, and action on it within 60 days. Section 14: action for a complaint that is proved to be malicious or knowingly false, but not merely because it could not be proved.
Sections 16 and 18, POSH Act, 2013
Section 16 keeps the identities of the parties, witnesses and the contents of the complaint and inquiry confidential, including from RTI. Section 18 provides an appeal against the committee's recommendations within 90 days, to the forum under the service rules where such rules exist.
Rule 3C, CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 and Rule 14(2), CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965
Rule 3C makes sexual harassment misconduct and defines it in line with the Act. The proviso to Rule 14(2) makes the complaints committee the inquiring authority, following the CCA procedure as far as practicable unless a separate procedure has been prescribed. The report then goes to the disciplinary authority, who decides on the penalty after hearing the employee.
How a complaint moves through a central office
The sequence below follows the usual practice under the Act, the CCA Rules and DoPT's July 2015 instructions. Offices vary in the detail, so ask the committee for its procedure in writing at the start.
Complaint reaches the committee
The woman submits a written complaint to the Internal Committee, by hand, email or through the government's SHe-Box portal. The committee acknowledges it and, within a few days, sends a copy to the respondent, who has a short time to reply with his documents and witness names.
Conciliation, if the complainant asks for it
If she asks, the committee may try to settle the matter. A settlement is recorded and both sides get a copy. No money can form the basis. If there is no request or no settlement, the inquiry goes ahead.
Fact-finding and the charge
The committee looks into the complaint. Where the matter is to proceed under the disciplinary rules, the disciplinary authority issues a memorandum of charges under Rule 14 to the respondent, listing the documents and witnesses relied on. The respondent gives a written statement of defence.
The inquiry hearings
The committee, now acting as inquiring authority, records evidence: the complainant's statement, the witnesses on both sides, documents and electronic records. The respondent or his defence assistant may cross-examine, in a manner the committee controls. The complainant may also have questions put to the respondent's witnesses.
Report and the disciplinary authority's decision
The committee sends its findings to the disciplinary authority. A copy goes to the respondent for a representation, as under Rule 15. The disciplinary authority then decides whether the charge is proved and what penalty, if any, to impose, and also acts on the committee's recommendations for the complainant.
Appeal and the tribunal
A respondent who is penalised can appeal under Rule 23 within 45 days and then go to the CAT. A complainant who is dissatisfied has the appeal under Section 18 of the Act and, depending on the order, a route to the tribunal or High Court.
When the committee itself is defective
A surprising number of committees are not properly formed. The external member's term has expired and nobody was appointed in her place. The presiding officer is junior to the respondent. Fewer than half the members are women. In Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa (2023) the Supreme Court set aside a penalty partly because of serious lapses in the inquiry, and directed that properly constituted committees be in place everywhere.
If you are the respondent, raise a defect in composition at the first hearing, in writing. Raising it only after an adverse report looks tactical and may be treated as waived. If you are the complainant and you find the committee is incomplete, ask the head of office in writing to reconstitute it before the inquiry begins, so that the eventual finding is not set aside on a technicality.
Where the person accused is very senior, departments usually refer the complaint to a committee formed at a higher level, so that no member is subordinate to him. A complainant who fears that her own office's committee will be overawed can ask for this.
Interim relief: what the complainant can ask for while the inquiry runs
The months of an inquiry are often the hardest part for the woman who complained, especially if the respondent supervises her or writes her APAR. Section 12 lets the committee recommend that she or the respondent be transferred, that she be given leave of up to three months on top of her normal entitlement, or that he be kept from assessing her work or writing her report. In central government, DoPT's 2016 instructions allow special leave of up to 90 days during the inquiry, recommended by the committee and not debited to her leave account.
The request should be in writing and should explain why it is needed: the reporting relationship, the physical layout of the office, incidents since the complaint. The employer is bound to act on the committee's recommendation. If nothing happens, a written reminder to the head of office, with a copy to the committee, is the next step. The guide on interim relief, transfer and leave for complainants explains this further, and the broader rights of women employees on postings and leave are covered in the guide on protections for women central employees.
For the respondent, an interim transfer is not a penalty. Challenging it rarely succeeds unless it is plainly mala fide or punitive in its terms. The page on challenging a transfer order explains the limits.
Evidence in harassment cases
Most incidents happen without witnesses, and committees know that. The complainant's own account, if consistent and detailed, can be enough. What strengthens it is anything recorded close to the time: a message sent to a friend that evening, an entry in a diary, a call to a family member, a change in behaviour that colleagues noticed. What weakens it is a version that changes between the complaint and the evidence, or details that conflict with records such as attendance or tour diaries.
Electronic evidence is now common: WhatsApp chats, emails, call records, CCTV footage. Preserve the original device and do not edit or crop screenshots. The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 governs electronic records in courts; a departmental inquiry is not strictly bound by it, but a committee will give more weight to material whose source is clear.
For the respondent, the best evidence is usually documentary: leave records, tour programmes, entry logs, the movement register, showing that he could not have been where the complaint places him. Character witnesses who say he is a decent man help very little. Advocate B.K. Singh's practice is to build a date-by-date chart of both versions against the office records before a single question is asked in cross-examination, because the gaps show up on paper first.
Cross-examination without humiliating the complainant
The respondent has a right to test the evidence against him. The complainant has a right not to be put through a hostile or degrading questioning. Committees reconcile the two by controlling the manner of cross-examination: questions may be submitted in writing and put by the presiding officer, the complainant may give evidence without facing the respondent directly, and questions about her past or private life unrelated to the complaint are disallowed.
What a committee cannot do is refuse cross-examination altogether, or record statements behind the respondent's back and then rely on them. Courts have set aside findings on exactly that ground. If you are the respondent and you were not allowed to question a witness whose statement was used, note your objection in writing at the hearing.
Legal practitioners generally cannot appear before the committee. Under the CCA Rules the respondent may have a defence assistant who is a serving or retired government servant, and a lawyer only if the presenting officer is a lawyer or the disciplinary authority allows it. Both sides can still take legal advice outside the hearings, which is often where cases are won or lost. See the guide on getting help when a lawyer cannot appear.
Here's a made-up example: an Assistant in a Lucknow office
Here's a made-up example. Shabnam, 31, an Assistant in a central government regional office in Lucknow, was repeatedly called into her Superintendent's cabin after hours, shown obscene videos on his phone and told her APAR 'depended on how friendly she was'. She told her sister about it the same evenings by WhatsApp. She was afraid to complain and did so only four months after the last incident, when she heard he would be her reporting officer again.
The Internal Committee accepted her explanation for the delay and extended the time under Section 9. On her written request it recommended that the Superintendent be restrained from writing her APAR and that she be given special leave for six weeks. The disciplinary authority issued a Rule 14 charge memo; the Superintendent denied everything and said she was angry over a refused transfer.
During the inquiry, the committee allowed questions to her to be put in writing through the presiding officer. Her WhatsApp messages to her sister, sent the same nights, matched the dates in the office's late-sitting register. The Superintendent's own phone was not produced. On those facts a finding against him would be well founded. Had the committee refused his request to cross-examine her sister, however, or relied on statements he never saw, his appeal would have had real force. Both sides gain from a committee that follows procedure.
Papers each side should keep
For the complainant
- Copy of the written complaint with the date of receipt
- Screenshots and the original phone or email account, unaltered
- Notes made at the time of each incident
- Names and contact details of people you confided in
- Any request for interim relief and the reply
- Orders on transfer, leave or APAR arrangements during the inquiry
For the respondent
- The complaint as served on you and your first reply
- The Rule 14 charge memo and listed documents
- Attendance, leave, tour and movement records for the dates alleged
- Notes of each hearing, with your written objections
- The committee's report and your representation on it
- Penalty order, appeal and the appellate order
For both
- The office order constituting the committee, with members' names and terms
- Any procedure the committee notified for the inquiry
- Proof of dates on which every paper was sent or received
Complaint against someone from another office
Harassment does not always come from a colleague in the same office. It may be an officer from the controlling ministry on inspection, an auditor, or someone from another department at a joint training course. In Dr. Sohail Malik v. Union of India, decided on 10 December 2025, the Supreme Court held that the Internal Committee at the aggrieved woman's own workplace can inquire into a complaint against a respondent employed elsewhere. Its findings and recommendations are then acted on by the respondent's own employer under his service rules.
In practice, this means a woman in, say, a CGHS dispensary in Bhopal need not travel to the respondent's headquarters to have her complaint heard. For the respondent, it means his own disciplinary authority will be asked to act on a report from a committee in another organisation, and his procedural rights still have to be respected at both ends.
False complaints and Section 14
Respondents often ask whether they can have the complainant punished for a false complaint. Section 14 allows action only where the committee concludes, after inquiry, that the complaint was malicious or that the complainant knew it was false, or that forged or misleading documents were produced. It says expressly that inability to prove the complaint does not by itself attract action. Malicious intent has to be established.
So an exoneration does not automatically turn into a case against the complainant, and pressing for one usually damages the respondent's standing. Where there is clear proof of fabrication, the point should be raised before the committee, which has to inquire into it. A defamation case or criminal complaint in parallel is possible in law but should be weighed carefully, since it can be seen as intimidation and the committee's proceedings are confidential under Section 16.
A criminal case as well as the committee
Sexual harassment can also be an offence. Section 75 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which replaced Section 354A of the IPC from 1 July 2024, punishes it, and more serious acts fall under other sections. A woman can lodge a police complaint in addition to the committee complaint, and Section 19 of the POSH Act requires the employer to help her if she chooses to do so.
The two run independently. The committee does not have to wait for the criminal case, and an acquittal does not automatically wipe out a departmental finding because the standard of proof is different. Where both run together on the same facts, the respondent should read the page on criminal trial and departmental proceedings together.
Where challenges are filed
For central government civil employees, the penalty imposed after the committee's report is a service matter. The respondent appeals under Rule 23, explained on the page on appealing a penalty order, and then files an Original Application before the CAT bench for the place where he is posted. A complainant who wants to challenge an inadequate finding, a failure to act on recommendations, or retaliatory action has the Section 18 appeal, and in central service has usually approached the CAT as well, though some such challenges have been heard by High Courts. The correct forum depends on what order she is challenging, so take advice early.
Employees of public sector undertakings and banks, which have their own committees under the Act, go to the High Court. Women in the central armed police forces, and men accused there, also generally go to the High Court, while the armed forces have their own mechanisms and the Armed Forces Tribunal. State government employees go to the State Administrative Tribunal or High Court.
Time limits and costs at a glance
| Stage | Time under the law or in practice | Cost in general terms |
|---|---|---|
| Filing the complaint | Within 3 months of the incident; extendable by 3 months | No fee |
| Respondent's reply to the committee | Usually 10 days from receiving the complaint | No fee |
| Inquiry by the committee | To be completed within 90 days; in practice often 4 to 8 months | No fee; travel to hearings |
| Committee's report to employer | Within 10 days of completing the inquiry | No fee |
| Employer's action on the report | Within 60 days of receiving it | No fee |
| Appeal | Section 18: 90 days; Rule 23 appeal against penalty: 45 days | No fee |
| Original Application before CAT | Within 1 year of the final order; decided in roughly 1 to 3 years | A small fixed CAT fee (Rs 50 under Rule 7 of the CAT (Procedure) Rules; check the current amount with the registry), plus paper book costs; lawyer's fees agreed in writing, stage by stage |
Confidentiality, and getting advice early
Section 16 bars publication of the identities of the woman, the respondent and the witnesses, and of the contents of the complaint, the proceedings and the recommendations. Disclosing them can attract a penalty under Section 17 and service rules. Both sides should avoid discussing the case in office WhatsApp groups or on social media, however strong the urge. If you need to talk, talk to family and to your adviser.
Whichever side you are on, the most useful time to get advice is before the first hearing, when the shape of the inquiry is still being set. The firm advises complainants and respondents in central offices, though never both sides in the same matter. For a reading of your papers or for updates on how tribunals and courts are applying the POSH Act to central employees, contact Advocate B.K. Singh.
Frequently asked questions
Who hears a sexual harassment complaint in a central government office?
The Internal Committee constituted under Section 4 of the POSH Act. In central government it is also treated as the inquiring authority under Rule 14(2) of the CCS (CCA) Rules, so its report serves as the inquiry report for disciplinary action.
What is the time limit to complain to the Internal Committee?
Three months from the incident, or from the last incident in a series. The committee can extend this by another three months if it is satisfied that circumstances prevented an earlier complaint.
Can the accused employee cross-examine the complainant?
Yes, the right to test the evidence is part of a Rule 14 inquiry. The committee can regulate how it is done, for example by having questions put in writing through the presiding officer, but it should not refuse it altogether.
Can I bring a lawyer to the ICC hearing?
Generally no. A respondent in a central inquiry can have a government servant as defence assistant, and a lawyer only if the presenting officer is a lawyer or the disciplinary authority permits. Either side can take legal advice outside the hearings.
Can I get leave while my complaint is being inquired into?
Yes. The committee can recommend leave of up to three months under Section 12, and central government employees can get special leave of up to 90 days during the inquiry that is not debited to the leave account.
What happens if the complaint cannot be proved?
The respondent is exonerated on that charge. Failure to prove a complaint does not by itself allow action against the complainant; that needs a finding that the complaint was malicious or knowingly false.
Can a woman complain against an officer from a different department?
Yes. The Supreme Court held in December 2025 that the committee at her own workplace can inquire into a complaint against a respondent working elsewhere, and his employer then acts on the findings.
Where can I challenge a penalty imposed after an ICC inquiry?
A central government employee appeals first under Rule 23 of the CCS (CCA) Rules within 45 days, and then applies to the CAT. PSU and bank employees generally go to the High Court.