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 add to the second limb
The POSH Rules define that second limb further. It covers a social worker with at least five years' relevant experience, or a person familiar with labour, service, civil, or criminal law — POSH Rules, rule 4. That second branch is the explicit textual basis for appointing a practising advocate as external member: an advocate is, by definition, someone familiar with civil or criminal law, and often with service and labour law specifically. Nothing about the role requires an affiliation to an NGO.
What the employer pays
The external member 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
- Does the candidate's familiarity with labour, service, civil, or criminal law rest on verifiable practice — an advocate's Bar enrolment number can be checked independently — rather than an unverifiable label like "social worker" with no evidence behind it?
- 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 numbers are published rather than asserted. See the panel for who is available and how the seat is priced.