Your Internal Committee's term has expired. How to reconstitute it

What to do now

1. Find every written order constituting a Committee, one for each office or administrative unit (s.4(1)).
2. List each member's nomination date and term. Terms can differ from member to member, and the order may have set less than three years. Work out who is already out of office, and who will be within the next few months.
3. Check whether any complaint is open. If an inquiry is running, note it before you change anything. See below.
4. Decide who sits next, checking the composition in s.4(2): a senior woman as Presiding Officer, at least two employee members, one external member, and at least half the members women.
5. Issue a fresh written order naming each member, their role and their term. Date it the day it is signed; never backdate it.
6. Update everything that depends on it: the notice on display, the policy, SHe-Box if you are registered, and the next annual report and Board's Report. The list is below.

What s.4 actually says about tenure

Three rules work together. The employer nominates the members by written order (s.4(1), s.4(2)). Each member holds office for the period the employer specifies, capped at three years from their own nomination (s.4(3)). And a vacancy, including a casual one, is filled by fresh nomination under the same section (s.4(5)).

There is no automatic renewal. A committee constituted in 2022 with three-year terms, and not renominated since, is a committee on paper only in 2026. And because each member's clock runs from their own nomination, a committee that has replaced one or two people along the way may have members on different end dates.

Why a lapsed committee puts inquiries at risk

An Internal Committee exercises the powers of a civil court for its inquiry (s.11(3)), and its findings can end in action against an employee. Courts look at whether it was properly constituted. In Ruchika Singh Chhabra v. Air France India (Delhi High Court, 30 May 2018), a committee whose external member did not meet s.4(2)(c) was held invalid, and "all its resultant proceedings, including the report submitted by it" were set aside. The court directed a new committee and a fresh inquiry.

A committee whose members' terms have run out raises the same kind of question: were the people who heard the complaint entitled to sit? The safest time to answer it is before a complaint arrives.

Reconstitution, step by step

1. Presiding Officer. A woman employed at a senior level. If there is none at that office, nominate one from another office or unit of the same employer, and failing that from another workplace of the same employer or another department or organisation (s.4(2)(a)).
2. Employee members. At least two, preferably committed to the cause of women or with social-work experience or legal knowledge (s.4(2)(b)).
3. External member. From an NGO or association committed to the cause of women, or a person familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment (s.4(2)(c)). See who can be your external member.
4. The women count. At least half the members nominated must be women (proviso to s.4(2)).
5. The order. Name each member, their role and their term (three years at most). Sign and date it.
6. Undertakings and orientation. Collect a confidentiality undertaking from each member; the duty comes from s.16. Arrange orientation for new members; s.19(c) requires orientation programmes for Committee members.

Can the same people be renominated?

The Act caps each term at three years but doesn't bar renominating the same person for a further term by a fresh order. Whether that's wise is a separate question. A committee that never changes can drift into informality, and the external member in particular should remain independent of management.

If an inquiry is open when terms run out

The Act doesn't say what happens to an inquiry already under way when a member's term ends. Don't leave it to chance. Reconstitute straight away, record the dates, and have the Committee, with its own advisers where needed, consider whether any step taken while a member was out of office should be revisited. Keep an eye on the 90-day limit for completing the inquiry (s.11(4)) while you do.

What to update afterwards

• The displayed notice. s.19(b) requires the order constituting the Committee to be displayed at a conspicuous place, so replace the old one.
• The policy. If it names Committee members or contact details (POSH Rules, rule 13(a)).
• SHe-Box. If your workplace is registered, update the Committee details there. See SHe-Box registration.
• Employees. Tell staff who the Committee is now.
• The annual report and Board's Report. The Committee's next s.21 report, and for companies the Internal Committee compliance statement in the Board's Report (POSH disclosure in the Board's Report).

Mistakes we see

• Renewing the external member's engagement but not the employee members' terms, or the other way round.
• Backdating a new order to cover the gap.
• Reconstituting at head office only, when branches have their own committees.
• Leaving the old order on the notice board.
• Seating new members who have never had orientation.

Where we come in

We audit existing orders across your offices, draft the fresh orders, provide the external member, and run orientation for new members. It's the same work as Internal Committee formation, applied to a committee that already exists. We work onsite across Delhi NCR and cities within about 300 km of Noida, anywhere in India as required, and online.

Frequently asked