The two limbs of s.4(2)(c)
The Internal Committee's external member is required under s.4(2)(c), and the sub-section actually offers two separate routes to filling that seat. The first is an NGO or an association committed to the cause of women. The second is a person familiar with issues relating to sexual harassment. Employers commonly assume "external member" means "NGO," because it is the more visible of the two — but the statute treats both limbs as equally valid, and neither is a fallback for the other.
What the POSH Rules do — and don't — add
The POSH Rules describe a "person familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment" as including a social worker with at least five years' relevant experience, or a person familiar with labour, service, civil or criminal law (rule 4). But rule 4 says it is written for s.7(1)(c) — the Local Committee. In Ruchika Singh Chhabra v. Air France India (30 May 2018), the Delhi High Court held that rule 4 does not apply to an Internal Committee, and set aside a committee whose external member was a labour lawyer with nothing on record showing experience of sexual harassment cases, together with its report. The court ordered the committee reconstituted and the inquiry held afresh.
So the second limb is open to an advocate, a social worker, or anyone else — on the strength of familiarity with sexual harassment matters, not on the strength of a professional title. Nothing about the role requires an affiliation to an NGO.
Two separate things should be checked before the appointment order is signed. Identity and standing: an advocate's enrolment is permanent and public on a State Bar Council roll, with disciplinary jurisdiction under s.35 of the Advocates Act 1961 behind it, while India has no statutory register of social workers. And relevant experience: Internal Committee sittings, POSH inquiries, or other sexual harassment work the candidate can actually point to. The first is easier to verify for an advocate; the second has to be shown by every candidate, whoever they are.
What the employer pays
A member appointed from a non-governmental organisation is entitled to ₹200 per day for the Internal Committee proceedings they attend, plus reimbursement of travel costs, payable by the employer — POSH Rules, rule 3. The figure is nominal by design: it covers the member's time and out-of-pocket cost, not a retainer.
One person, several committees
Nothing in the Act or the Rules restricts an external member to a single organisation. A person qualifying under the second limb can properly hold the external member seat on more than one Internal Committee at the same time, across different employers. That is, in practice, how a comparatively small pool of qualified people — advocates and experienced social workers — is able to serve the much larger number of Internal Committees the ten-or-more threshold under s.4 creates.
Does the employer paying the external member create a conflict?
The Rules place the ₹200 allowance on the employer directly — that is the mechanism the framework itself contemplates, not a workaround an employer has invented. What actually protects the external member's independence sits elsewhere: appointment by written order naming the member and their term of up to three years under s.4; the confidentiality undertaking the external member signs before joining the IC; and the freedom to serve other organisations rather than being retained exclusively by one employer. Payment on its own is not the safeguard, or the risk.
What to check before appointing one
- Can the candidate show familiarity with sexual harassment matters — Internal Committee sittings, POSH inquiries, related work — rather than only a professional title? This is what the Delhi High Court looked for in Air France.
- Can their identity and standing be checked independently — for an advocate, the Bar enrolment number against the State Bar Council roll?
- Does the written order name the external member specifically, with a stated term of up to three years, under s.4?
- Has the confidentiality undertaking been signed before the member sits on any case?
- Does the same person already hold the external member seat elsewhere — and if so, is that disclosed to your Internal Committee rather than left unmentioned?
Our own panel
Our panel is built around advocates appointed under the second limb of s.4(2)(c), whose Bar enrolment is checkable rather than asserted: the council and year are on the register, and the full name and enrolment number reach you before you appoint anyone. See our empanelled advocate panel for the council, year and languages of each advocate, and external member appointment for how the seat is filled and priced.