A formal complaint is necessary under the POSH Act to trigger an inquiry; vague or incidental references do not suffice.

JUDGMENT :

(Anita Sumanth, J.)

(Prayer : Appeal filed under Section 15 of the Letters Patent against order dated 25.08.2021 made in W.P.No.10364 of 2016.)

The present writ appeal is filed by the writ petitioner in W.P.No.10364 of 2016, hereinafter referred to as either writ petitioner or appellant. Her prayer in the writ petition was for a mandamus directing the Loyala College (College/R2 in writ petition) to permit her to rejoin and continue her duties as Secretary to Rector of the College/R3, with full backwages and benefits & direct the college to initiate enquiry against R5 in the writ petition based on her complaint under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, (POSH Act) as well as compensation.

2. The Rector & the Vice-President of the College had filed W.P.No.1298 of 2021, being aggrieved by an order passed by the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women (Commission), that had been approached by the appellant also seeking reinstatement and compensation.

3. The writ petitions were heard conjointly and a common order passed on 25.08.2021 allowing W.P.No.1298 of 2021 (filed by the Rector of the College) and dismissing the appellant's writ petition, W.P.No.10364 of 2016.

4. We have heard Mr.T.Sri Krishna Bhagavat, for the appellant, Mr.A.S.Vijayaraghavan, for the University of Madras/R1 and Mr.Godson Swaminathan, for the college as well as R5.

5. The case of the appellant is as follows. The appellant was appointed as an Administrator of the college on 01.07.2000. The genesis of her grievances was an event organised in the college by the alumni association, of which both the appellant as well as her son were part. According to the appellant, there was diversion of the donations received from various sponsors by R5. Even prior thereto, the appellant has alleged that there had been diversion of funds by R5, who was misappropriating amounts from the college funds. She had also made allegations in regard to his conduct and behaviour even going to the extent stating that he was attempting to create a rift within her own family members.

6. Be that as it may, the crux of the submissions of the writ petitioner before the writ court centred around on two facts, firstly, that she had been terminated unfairly and seeking various benefits on this account, and secondly, that there ought to have been a reference of her complaint of sexual harassment to the appropriate committee constituted under the POSH Act.

7. The University/R1 has no role to play in this matter and is hence not even a necessary party.

8. It had been the defence of the other contesting parties i.e., College and R5 that the allegations put forth by the appellant were wholly unfounded. They had denied that she had been a permanent staff of the college and had averred that she had been paid all the amounts that had been due to her, in time.

9. The appellant had approached the Commission seeking relief, and the Commission, vide order dated 23.12.2020, found merit in the appellant's contentions, granting her all the relief sought for. The writ court has in the order impugned before us found that, the order passed by the Commission was wholly arbitrary insofar as there had been no proper enquiry conducted by the Commission, it was only the Chairperson who had visited the college to conduct an enquiry and the other members of the Commission had not been part of the process and there had been no material whatsoever for the Commission to have passed order dated 23.12.2020 in the appellant's favour.

10. The writ petition filed by the Rector & Vice-President of the College in W.P.No.1298 of 2021 had come to be allowed as against which no writ appeal has been filed by the appellant. Thus, as far as the demands of the appellant in regard to her employment, her status within the college and the benefits, if any, that she was entitled to, are concerned, order of the writ court dated 25.08.2021 has attained finality and we have nothing