% 30.06.2023 per C. HARI SHANKAR, J.

1. If a woman employee in one department of the Government of India is sexually harassed by an employee of another department, would she, or would she not, be entitled to invoke the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (―the SHW Act‖, hereinafter)? The petitioner would seek to submit that the answer has necessarily to be in the negative. In other words, according to the petitioner, one has to be sexually harassed by a colleague in one’s own department, for the SHW Act to apply.

Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SUNIL W.P.(C) 8624/2023 Page of

2. This writ petition, directed against judgment dated 23 June 2023 passed by the learned Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (―the learned Tribunal‖) in OA 1838/2023, requires the Court to address this issue, which, the petitioner submits, is thus far res integra.

Facts

3. The present proceedings emanate from a complaint addressed by an officer in the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer and Public Distribution, alleging that the