Head of complaints committee requests for recusing herself

NAVRAJ SANDHU, WHO WAS APPOINTED AS PANEL CHAIRPERSON ON TUESDAY, IS THE BATCH MATE OF THE IAS OFFICER ACCUSED OF HARASSMENT BY A WOMAN COLLEAGUE

CHANDIGARH: Senior Haryana IAS officer Navraj Sandhu, who was on Tuesday appointed as chairperson of the internal complaints committee (ICC) to inquire into allegations of sexual harassment at workplace by a Haryana woman IAS officer has sought to recuse herself from the ICC.

Sandhu, a 1984 batch IAS officer in the additional chief secretary (ACS) rank has written to chief secretary DS Dhesi to excuse herself from the committee. She is the batch mate of the IAS officer accused of sexual harassment. A decision regarding Sandhu’s request is yet to be taken by the chief secretary.

A woman IAS officer has complained against her immediate boss, an ACS rank officer. The ICC has three other woman officers, ACS, school education, Dheera Khandelwal, principal secretary, social justice and empowerment, Neerja Sekhar, and director, women and child development, Hema Sharma.

The other members of the committee are law secretary, Kuldip Jain, secretary, general administration, Vijayendra Kumar, secretary, political and services, Ashok Sangwan, deputy secretary, administration, Madan Lal and Dr Vidhu Mohan, an NGO activist.

The ICC has been constituted under the provisions of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition And Redressal) Act, 2013.