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NALCO case: Court directs appointment of new panel

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, JUNE 8. The acting Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, A.P. Shah, today directed that a new three-member committee be appointed within eight weeks to investigate the case of sexual harassment against C. Venkataramana, Chairperson and Managing Director of National Aluminium Corporation Limited.

A Division Bench of the High Court, comprising Mr. Shah and Justice Abhay S. Oka, while disposing of a petition filed by a woman employee, said the committee constituted by NALCO was biased and had to go. Since the officials were high-ranking, Mr. Shah said, the investigation had to be conducted afresh by an independent committee. He proposed that the names of two members of this new committee would be recommended by the Vigilance Commission, one of which could be a woman. He also appointed Dr. Asha Bajpai, Reader in Law at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), as the third member.

The woman had filed a complaint against Mr. Venkataramana and the Regional Manager, Virendra Singh, alleging sexual harassment on February 7 at a city hotel here. NALCO formed a complaints committee to look into the case, comprising three officials from the company itself.

Mr. Shah ordered that the investigation be completed as expeditiously as possible, and set a time- frame of four months. He also granted the other prayers of the woman that she should not be transferred out of Mumbai while the case was in progress and kept the issue of compensation open. "We are dealing with allegation of bias and the proceedings of the earlier committee formed by NALCO will not be used by either party," he specified.

Mr. Shah issued these directions as per the modified order of the Supreme Court in the Visakha case of April 26 relating to sexual harassment at the workplace. Satish Maneshinde, advocate for the victim, had filed a petition, pleading for action against the offenders.

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