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Every employer with a workplace in the capital, whatever its size. Section 4(1) of the POSH Act 2013 provides that every employer of a workplace shall, by an order in writing, constitute an Internal Committee. There is no headcount threshold in that sub-section at all. What makes Delhi distinctive is not who is covered but the shape of the employer base: a very large number of entities hold a registered office or head office here while the operating workforce sits in Noida, Gurugram or another State entirely.
That split is the origin of most of the defects we are asked to correct. A committee is constituted at the Delhi address named on the incorporation papers, and the units where people actually work are left without one.
Head offices, professional firms, banks and media groups, many holding a single prestige address in Delhi while the operating workforce sits in another State. Committee scoping here begins with which legal entity holds which unit, because the registered office and the workplace are frequently not the same building.
Technology resellers, IT services, healthcare groups and a dense layer of smaller employers. This is where the sub-ten-worker misreading of Section 6 does the most damage, because a large number of genuine employers here assume the Act does not reach them at all.
Manufacturing, logistics, publishing and back-office employers running substantial contractor-supplied workforces. Section 2(f) brings agency and contractor personnel inside the scheme, directly or through an agent including a contractor, with or without the knowledge of the principal employer.
Hospitality, aviation services and shared-office occupiers, with shift working and a high proportion of staff supplied by third parties. Round-the-clock sites raise a practical question the Act does not answer for you: whether the Committee is reachable by a complainant working a night shift.
The duty to constitute applies regardless of headcount. The ten-worker figure appears in Section 6, which routes complaints, and not in Section 4(1), which imposes the duty.
Every District Officer shall constitute in the district concerned, a committee to be known as the “Local Committee” to receive complaints of sexual harassment from establishments where the Internal Committee has not been constituted due to having less than ten workers or if the complaint is against the employer himself.
Section 6(1), POSH Act 2013Two consequences follow, and both bite in Delhi. First, a small employer that has read the ten-worker line as an exemption is exposed to Section 26(1) for not having constituted a committee at all. Second, and independently of size, a complaint against the employer himself does not go to the employer's own committee — it goes to the Local Committee. For the many promoter-controlled companies, professional practices and family businesses in the capital, that limb of Section 6(1) matters more than the headcount one.
Section 5 empowers the appropriate Government to notify a District Officer for every district, and Section 6(2) requires a nodal officer in every ward or municipality in an urban area to receive complaints and forward them to the Local Committee within seven days. The full statutory scheme is set out on the firm's POSH compliance page.
One at every unit, where the units are at different places. The proviso to Section 4(1) is explicit, and for Delhi employers it is the provision that most often catches them, because the NCR spreads a single business across three jurisdictions.
Where the offices or administrative units of the workplace are located at different places or divisional or sub-divisional level, the Internal Committee shall be constituted at all administrative units or offices.
Proviso to Section 4(1), POSH Act 2013A Delhi head office with a delivery centre in Noida and a sales office in Gurugram needs committees at those units, not a single central one. The NCR adds a second layer that a purely intra-city employer never meets: those units sit in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, so each answers to a different District Officer and a different Local Committee, while the POSH Rules themselves are made by the Central Government under Section 29 and apply uniformly across India. The knock-on duties multiply with the map — the Section 19(b) display is a per-workplace duty, orientation under Section 19(c) applies to each committee, and the Section 21 annual report has to account for every one of them.
Our advice on the two NCR units most Delhi employers also hold is set out on the Noida page and the Gurugram page.
The POSH Act as it stands cross-refers to the Indian Penal Code, 1860 in four places. Section 11(1) requires the Local Committee, where a prima facie case exists against a domestic worker's respondent, to forward the complaint to the police within seven days for registering a case under Section 509 of the Penal Code. Section 11(2) cites it again: notwithstanding Section 509, the court may, when the respondent is convicted of the offence, order payment of such sums as it considers appropriate to the aggrieved woman, having regard to Section 15. Section 19(g) requires the employer to assist a woman who chooses to file a complaint in relation to an offence under the Penal Code, and Section 19(h) requires the employer to cause action to be initiated under it against the perpetrator.
The Indian Penal Code was replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 with effect from 1 July 2024. The offence that corresponds to Section 509 of the Penal Code — word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman — is Section 79 of the Sanhita. The statutory cross-reference in the POSH Act has not been redrafted, and general clauses provisions on the construction of references to repealed enactments are what carry it across.
The practical effect for a Delhi employer is narrow but real. An employer discharging its Section 19(g) or 19(h) duty for an incident on or after 1 July 2024 is assisting with, or causing to be initiated, a complaint under the Sanhita and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — not the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure. A POSH policy or employee handbook that names only the Penal Code is, at best, dated. The firm maintains a section-by-section IPC to BNS conversion table for exactly this kind of transitional question.
Mapping every office and administrative unit the entity holds, drafting the written order under Section 4(1) for each, testing composition against Section 4(2) — a woman employed at a senior level as Presiding Officer, not less than two members from amongst the employees under Section 4(2)(b), the external member in place under Section 4(2)(c), and at least one-half of the nominated members women — and diarising the three-year tenure cap in Section 4(3).
Advocates from our team sit as the external member on Internal Committees at Delhi workplaces. The seat is a working one rather than a name on an order: attendance at hearings, a view on whether the record supports a finding, and the discipline of keeping the inquiry inside the ninety days that Section 11(4) allows.
A policy that tracks the Act and the POSH Rules 2013 rather than a downloaded template — definitions aligned to Section 2(f), the complaint route and the Section 9(1) time limit stated correctly, the Section 10 bar on any monetary settlement as a basis of conciliation, confidentiality under Section 16 with the Section 17 penalty, and the Section 19(i) linkage treating sexual harassment as misconduct under the service rules so that a recommendation is enforceable.
Workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for employees, and separate orientation programmes for Internal Committee members, as Section 19(c) requires. Delivered on site across Delhi or virtually for distributed teams, with manager sessions, new-joiner modules and refreshers scheduled against the calendar rather than run once and forgotten.
Guidance to a Committee through the statutory sequence — receipt under Section 9, conciliation under Section 10 only at the aggrieved woman’s request and never on a monetary settlement as its basis, interim relief under Section 12 on her written request, the ninety-day inquiry under Section 11(4), the ten-day report under Section 13(1), employer action within sixty days under Section 13(4), and determination of compensation under Section 15 where it arises.
The Internal Committee’s annual report for the calendar year under Section 21, the employer’s Section 22 disclosure of the number of cases filed and their disposal, the POSH statement and complaint-count disclosure carried in the Board’s Report under the Companies (Accounts) Rules, and a file that can withstand a Section 25 call for information or inspection of records.
The sequence is fixed by the Act, and an inquiry that drifts outside it is the single most common reason a finding is later attacked. These are the provisions, in order.
A written complaint to the Internal Committee, or to the Local Committee where none is constituted, within three months of the incident or of the last incident in a series. The Committee may extend that by a further period not exceeding three months, for reasons to be recorded in writing.
Available before an inquiry is initiated and only at the request of the aggrieved woman. No monetary settlement may be made as a basis of conciliation.
During the pendency of an inquiry, on the written request of the aggrieved woman, the Committee may recommend transfer, leave or other relief to the employer.
The inquiry shall be completed within ninety days.
The report of findings goes to the employer or District Officer within ten days of completion of the inquiry, and is made available to the concerned parties.
The employer or District Officer shall act upon the recommendation within sixty days of its receipt. Section 15 governs determination of compensation, having regard to mental trauma, loss of career opportunity, medical expenses, the respondent’s income and financial status, and the feasibility of payment in lump sum or in instalments.
An appeal is to be preferred within ninety days of the recommendations.
Most engagements begin with a review rather than a document. The review establishes which legal entity holds which unit, whether an order in writing exists for each, whether the composition of each committee survives Section 4(2), whether tenure under Section 4(3) has quietly lapsed, whether the Section 19(b) display is actually up, whether workshops and Committee orientation under Section 19(c) can be evidenced, and whether the Section 21 and Section 22 reporting has been closed for the calendar year.
Where the review turns up a gap while a matter is already running, the order of work changes: the live inquiry is stabilised on the statutory clock first, and the structural corrections follow. A committee that is reconstituted midway through an inquiry creates a different problem from the one it solves.
Senior Partner Advocate Subodh Bajpai (LLM, MBA XLRI) leads the team that advises on these mandates, with advocates and associates on each engagement. Companies that would rather hold this and their other recurring legal work on a standing arrangement can read about the fractional general counsel model. More about the practice is at Unified Chambers and Associates.
Yes. Section 4(1) says that every employer of a workplace shall, by an order in writing, constitute an Internal Committee, and it sets no headcount threshold. The widely repeated line that the Act "applies at ten or more employees" is a misreading of Section 6(1), which is a routing provision: it sends complaints to the Local Committee where an Internal Committee has not been constituted due to having less than ten workers, and also where the complaint is against the employer himself. A Delhi start-up, studio, clinic or brokerage below ten workers is inside the Act; what changes below that size is where a complaint goes, not whether the duty exists.
No. The proviso to Section 4(1) requires that where the offices or administrative units of the workplace are located at different places, or at divisional or sub-divisional level, the Internal Committee shall be constituted at all administrative units or offices. A Delhi head office with separately administered units across the NCR is the standard case for multiple committees, and the point is sharper here because those units sit in different States, so each also answers to a different District Officer for Local Committee purposes. Our advice on the NCR units is set out on the Noida and Gurugram pages.
Section 5 empowers the appropriate Government to notify a District Magistrate, Additional District Magistrate, Collector or Deputy Collector as District Officer for every district, and Section 6(1) requires every District Officer to constitute a Local Committee in the district concerned. Delhi is administered in revenue districts, so the relevant Local Committee is the one for the district in which the workplace sits. Section 6(2) additionally requires a nodal officer in every ward or municipality in an urban area to receive complaints and forward them to the Local Committee within seven days. The firm does not publish the current officer or committee particulars, because those change; they should be taken from the official source at the time they are needed.
Yes. Section 4(2)(c) requires one member from amongst non-governmental organisations or associations committed to the cause of women, or a person familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment. An advocate practising in this area comes within the second limb. Under Section 4(4) the member appointed from such an organisation or association is to be paid such fees or allowances for holding proceedings, by the employer, as may be prescribed. Advocates from our team take external member seats on Internal Committees at Delhi workplaces, and where a company prefers a woman on that seat the firm can nominate a woman advocate.
No, and this is the composition rule most often confused. What Section 4(2) requires is that the Presiding Officer shall be a woman employed at a senior level at the workplace from amongst the employees, and separately that at least one-half of the total members nominated shall be women. The external member seat itself carries no gender requirement. Where a senior level woman employee is not available, the provisos to Section 4(2)(a) allow the Presiding Officer to be nominated from another office or administrative unit of the workplace.
The Act fixes the clock. A written complaint is to be made within three months of the incident, or of the last incident in a series, under Section 9(1), and the Committee may for reasons recorded in writing extend that by a further period not exceeding three months. The inquiry shall be completed within ninety days under Section 11(4). The report of findings goes to the employer within ten days of completion under Section 13(1) and is made available to the parties. The employer shall act upon the recommendation within sixty days of its receipt under Section 13(4). An appeal is to be preferred within ninety days of the recommendations under Section 18(2).
The POSH Act as it stands still cross-refers to the Indian Penal Code, 1860 — in Sections 11(1) and 11(2), on the forwarding of a domestic worker’s complaint and the court’s power on conviction to order payment to the aggrieved woman, and in Sections 19(g) and 19(h) for assisting a woman who chooses to file a criminal complaint and for causing action to be initiated against a perpetrator. The Indian Penal Code was replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 with effect from 1 July 2024, and the offence corresponding to Section 509 of the Penal Code — word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman — is Section 79 of the Sanhita. In practice a Delhi employer discharging the Section 19(g) and 19(h) duties for an incident after that date is assisting with a complaint under the Sanhita, and a POSH policy that still names only the Penal Code reads as out of date.
It is a statutory duty, and it is two duties rather than one. Section 19(c) requires every employer to organise workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for sensitising employees with the provisions of the Act, and orientation programmes for the members of the Internal Committee, in the manner as may be prescribed. A company that runs an annual all-staff session but has never oriented its Committee has met one limb and not the other. Section 19(b) is a separate and distinct duty: display, at a conspicuous place in the workplace, the penal consequences of sexual harassment and the order constituting the Internal Committee under Section 4(1).
Section 26(1) makes non-compliance — including failure to constitute the Internal Committee under Section 4(1), failure to take action under Sections 13, 14 and 22, and contravention of other provisions or rules — punishable with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees. Section 26(2) is the provision with commercial consequence: on a subsequent conviction for the same offence the employer is liable to twice the punishment which might have been imposed on a first conviction, subject to the maximum for that offence, and to cancellation of the licence or withdrawal, non-renewal or approval, or cancellation of the registration required for carrying on the business or activity. Section 25 separately empowers the appropriate Government to call for information and inspect records.
Section 18 provides an appeal to the court or tribunal in accordance with the service rules applicable to the person, or where no such rules exist, in such manner as may be prescribed, to be preferred within ninety days of the recommendations. Beyond that statutory route, findings and the process by which they were reached are in practice tested in writ proceedings before the High Court, where the challenge is usually to the constitution of the Committee, a denial of a fair opportunity, or a recommendation acted on outside the statutory scheme. That is a distinct exercise from the compliance work, and it is where the constitution order, the minutes and the evidence of process either hold or do not.
Senior Partner, LLM, MBA (XLRI Jamshedpur). Reviewed with the advocates and associates of Unified Chambers and Associates, a partner-led practice at the Delhi High Court Complex.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026
Provisions on this page are cited to the enacted text, not to a secondary summary.
Whether you are constituting Internal Committees across Delhi and the NCR units, filling an external member seat, scheduling training and Committee orientation, or dealing with an inquiry already under way, our partner-led team can take it from where it stands.
This page is general legal information about the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and the services the firm provides. It is not legal advice, and no advocate–client relationship arises from reading it. Advice on any particular workplace depends on its own facts.