The National Commission for Women (NCW) has directed Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to form separate internal committees in all its 127 units with 10 or more employees within four weeks to enhance compliance with the PoSH Act.
The directions were issued during a hearing conducted by the committee on May 21 in connection with the TCS Nashik case headed by NCW president Vijaya Rahatkar. Senior TCS officials attended the hearing virtually.
At least nine people have been arrested in connection with cases of sexual harassment, exploitation and religious conversion at the TCS unit in Nashik.
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During the proceedings, the committee raised serious concerns about systemic lapses in workplace safety and implementation of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act in the Nashik unit.
The issues discussed included absence of accessible human resource infrastructure and grievance redressal mechanisms, lack of a dedicated internal committee for the Nashik office, absence of a proper PoSH grievance mechanism, non-functional CCTV infrastructure and concerns related to supervisory accountability, the committee said in a statement.
The committee also questioned the continuation of the joint internal committee of Pune and Nashik units despite the legal requirements under the PoSH Act and asked why no senior official visited the Nashik center to interact directly with employees despite the seriousness of the concerns raised during the investigation.
While recognizing the Tata Group’s contribution to the country, the Commission said that the group, as a “nationally respected corporate institution and a role model”, is expected to implement the provisions of the PoSH Act “in letter and spirit”.
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Rahatkar directed TCS to take immediate corrective measures to strengthen institutional safeguards and PoSH compliance mechanisms.
“The committee directed all 127 TCS units having ten or more employees to form separate internal committees within four weeks, conduct comprehensive training programs on POSH, ensure submission of annual POSH reports to concerned authorities and ensure physical attendance of concerned officials during the next review meeting scheduled after four weeks,” the statement said.
The committee also said that organizations must deal with victims of harmful businesses with “compassion, sensitivity and empathy,” adding that criminal proceedings in the matter would continue independently in accordance with the law.
