Times of India: Mumbai: Saturday, 25 April 2015.
In reply to a query under the
Right to Information Act (RTI), the National Commission for Women (NCW) has
informed that files containing 1,000 pages in a complaint of sexual harassment
have gone missing. This is the second time that documents have gone missing.
The complainant, a former
director with KPMG, had sought information from the NCW in December 2013. But
when she did not receive any information after seven months, she filed an
appeal before the First Appellate Authority (FAA). When no order was passed by
the FAA, she filed a second appeal before the chief information commissioner
(CIC).
The NCW informed the
commission that the files relating to the case were in the custody of the
Maharashtra State Women's Commission and it would call back the file and
provide the information. In a letter to the complainant, which she received
last month, the NCW said that in January this year, the central commission had
written to the state commission, asking for the files and documents relating to
the RTI query. It had also sent a reminder but got no response.
"An NCW law officer
personally visited the MSWC for compliance of the CIC order and found that the
files were badly maintained. No pagination and docketing were done. Around
eight files containing more than 1,000 pages were reported as not traceable by
the MSWC."
The NCW said that it has
taken the issue seriously and the matter will be reported to the Maharashtra
chief minister and women and child welfare department for appropriate action.
The complaint, relating to
sexual harassment at workplace, was filed in June 2007. The case has moved from
the NCW to the state commission to the Bombay high court, the Supreme Court and
back to the high court, which in 2010, directed the NCW to complete the
inquiry.
In 2013, following an article
in TOI, an enquiry was initiated but was again challenged by KPMG in the high
court, which quashed the NCW enquiry on the grounds that findings are not
binding or legally enforceable and a criminal case is pending. The accused has
now filed a writ petition in the high court, seeking quashing of the criminal
case, seven years after filing of chargesheet. TNN