The Delhi High Court on Monday directed Delhi Public School (DPS) Society to compensate monetarily four former female employees of DPS Faridabad, for not complying with a recommendation of the National Commission for Women (NCW) for taking action against the then principal of the school on proven charges of sexual harassment against him.
The four employees in their joint complaint to the Commission in 1998 had accused the principal of seeking sexual favours from them for regularising their jobs. Three of them were teachers and one was an administrative staff.
The NCW had appointed a committee to inquire into the charges against the principal. The committee in its inquiry report had held the principal guilty. On the basis of the inquiry report, the NCW had asked the Society to take action against the principal but it took no action.
All the four were on probation for one year. However, they were not regularised on completion of their probation. One of them, however, left the job on health grounds six months after she had completed her probation.
Ordering the compensation of Rs. 2.5 lakh for each of the three teachers and Rs. 1 lakh for the non-teaching staff, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat of the Court said that the Society had failed to take action on the recommendation the NCW. Mr. Justice further said that the committee that the Society had set up to inquiry into the was also not as per the Supreme Court guidelines for inquiry into charges of sexual harassment at work places framed in the Vishaka judgment.
It was due to the failure of the Society to take action on the recommendation of the NCW that the four complainants had to suffer and fight legal battles to get justice for nine long years.
The matter had reached the High Court when the principal filed a petition seeking quashing of the NCW report. Earlier, he had moved the Supreme Court but it had remanded his petition to the High Court.
The principal has since retired and the four employees have also resigned from the school.
