New Delhi, The Central Information Commission has remanded an RTI appeal to the Ministry of Women and Child Development for fresh adjudication, directing its first appellate authority to provide a fair hearing to the applicant seeking information on the implementation of the law against workplace sexual harassment in public sector banks.
He sought details of banks registered on the SHe-Box portal, annual returns submitted under the law, penalties imposed for non-compliance and court cases involving aggrieved women. The applicant, Chayan Ghosh Chowdhury, cited the Supreme Court’s decision in Aureliano Fernandes vs State of Goa case and claimed that banks had failed to constitute Internal Committees as required under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013.
SHe-Box is the central government’s online platform for registering and tracking complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace.
The applicant contended that the information provided by the ministry was incomplete and that he had not been given a hearing despite specifically requesting one in his first appeal. The ministry maintained that it had provided the information available with it. In a recent order, Information Commissioner P R Ramesh directed the ministry’s First Appellate Authority to reconsider the appeal after allowing both parties to present their cases and issue a reasoned order.
It said the Department of Financial Services was the nodal department for the banking, financial services and insurance sector and advised the applicant to approach the public information officers of individual banks for specific details. The Commission noted that the ministry said the first appeal had been disposed of, but a copy of the order had not been placed on record.
