Internal Complaints Committee (ICC)

In accordance with the Section 4(1) of the SHWWPPR Act, 2013 and the UGC (Prevention, prohibition and redressal of sexual harassment of women employees and students in higher educational institutions) Regulations, 2015, the college has its own Internal Complaints Committee as the grievance redressal mechanism at the level of the college to look into all complaints relating to sexual harassment.

The composition of the ICC is as follows:

i. A Presiding Officer who shall be a woman faculty member employed at a senior level (not below an Associate Professor) at the HEI.

ii. Two nominated faculty members and two nominated non-teaching employees, preferably committed to the cause of women or who have had experience in social work or have legal knowledge.

iii. Three students, if the matter involves students, elected through a transparent democratic procedure.

iv. At least one-half of the total members of the ICC shall be women.

v. The term of office of the members of the ICC shall be for a period of three years. The HEI may also employ a system whereby one-third of the members of the ICC may change every year.

The ICC carries out its responsibilities as contained in Chapter IV and Chapter V of the SHWWPPR Act, 2013. The UGC (Prevention, prohibition and redressal of sexual harassment of women employees and students in higher educational institutions) Regulations, 2015 outlines the following responsibilities of the ICC:

i. Providing assistance if a student or an employee chooses to file a complaint with the police.

ii. Providing mechanisms of dispute redressal and dialogue to anticipate and address issues through just and fair conciliation without undermining complainant’s rights, and minimise the need for purely punitive approaches that lead to further resentment, alienation or violence.

iii. Protecting the safety of the complainant by not divulging the person’s identity, and providing the mandatory relief by way of relaxation of attendance requirement or sanctioned leave, as required during the pendency of the complaint.

iv. Ensuring that victims or witnesses are not victimised or discriminated against while dealing with complaints of sexual harassment.

v. Ensuring prohibition of retaliation or adverse action against a covered individual because the student or the employee is engaged in protected activity.

Election of three students’ representatives to the ICC

To ensure greater involvement of students in legal awareness against sexual harassment, three student representatives are elected to the ICC every year. At least one of the three representatives shall be a second year undergraduate student.

Mode of election of students’ representatives:

i. The election shall be scheduled and completed by the fourth week of September of each academic session.

ii. At the beginning of each academic session, two class representatives (CR) are elected from each class. Class representatives from the second and the third year may file their nomination – duly proposed and seconded – for representation on the ICC.

iii. Three students polling maximum number of votes shall be elected as students’ representatives to the ICC. At least one elected student representative shall be from the second year.

iv. The election shall be conducted by the Principal as the Returning Officer.

v. At the time of counting the votes, candidates or a nominee of each candidate shall be present as observer.

Members of ICC:

1. Urmil Vats, Department of Political Science, Presiding Officer.
2. Prabha Rana (Students’ Advisor), Department of Commerce, Member, ICC.
3. Biswajit K. Bora, Department of English, Member, ICC.
4. Minakshi Singh, Social Worker, Member, ICC.
5. Sangeeta Bansal, Non-Teaching Staff Member, ICC.
6. Ritesh Kapahai, S/O Administration, Member, ICC.
7. Simran, Student Representative, ICC.
8. Priti Mathpal, Student Representative, ICC.
9. , Lakshita Arora, Student Representative, ICC.