Whether a legal practitioner is allowed to represent a person, facing an enquiry before the Internal Complaints Committee in a case of Harassment at Work Place?

In the recent decision of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi[1], the court rejected the view of allowing a legal representative to represent petitioner in an enquiry conducted by Internal Complaint and held that:

1. The petition is not maintainable as Rule 7(6) of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013 clearly states that the parties shall not be allowed to bring in any legal practitioner to represent them in their case at any stage of the proceedings before the Complaints Committee.
2. This court is bound to respect the law as it stands today vis-à-vis Rule 7(6). Petitioner’s insistence to be represented through a friend amounts to a reading down the expression of Rule 7(6), which could only have been done in the earlier proceeding at the stage of examining the vires of Rule 7(6). It is not for this court to interpret or dilute the mandate of the statute when no challenge has been made before it.
3. The intent of Rule 7(6) is to disallow a legal practitioner from representing the parties at any stage of the proceedings. It has to be given its due meaning, and cannot be construed in the manner the Petitioner is seeking to do.
4. The purpose of keeping the proceedings fact based and free from expert legal advisory would be lost. That apart, there is also merit in the observation that this will create a prejudice for the complainant, whose case is also being considered by the internal committee without the aid of the legal practitioner or next friend.
5.  The inquiry may have a far-reaching consequence, however, it cannot be lost sight of that it is a domestic enquiry, not akin to proceedings before a court of law, and therefore the standards of proof which are relied upon by the court while allowing a legal representation, as in the judgments relied upon by the Petitioner, cannot be adopted.

Conclusion:

A person undergoing enquiry conducted by Internal Complaint Committee cannot be represented by a legal practitioner firstly because very specifically Rule 7 (6) of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013 denies it and also because the Court is of the view that the Rule is to be given its due meaning and cannot be construed in manner the petitioner wants.

---

[1] Johney Reberio v. Union of India & Ors., 2022/DHC/004345.