Indian statutes follow a common pattern. Parliament passes the Act. The Executive notifies Rules under the rule-making power inside the Act. The Act tells you what must happen. The Rules tell you how. POSH is no exception, and the relationship between the Act and the Rules is unusually tight.
The two source documents
- The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (Act No. 14 of 2013).
- The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013, notified by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on the 9th of December, 2013.
Both are stored in the dcomply Academy citation register. Every claim in this course points back to a specific section or rule, and the verbatim text is in the register.
How to spot when the Act is pointing at the Rules
Look for the phrase "as may be prescribed" or "in such manner as may be prescribed" in the Act. Every time you see it, the Act has handed off operational detail to the Rules. You will see the phrase repeatedly across the Act.
Some examples that you will meet later in this course:
- Section 4(4) says the NGO member of the IC shall be paid such fees or allowances "as may be prescribed". The actual figure (₹200 per day, plus travel reimbursement) is set in Rule 3 of the POSH Rules 2013
[L2-C1]. - Section 11(1) says that the inquiry shall be conducted in accordance with the service rules of the respondent, or where no such rules exist, "in such manner as may be prescribed". The "manner" is set out in Rule 7, which prescribes the six-copy complaint, the seven working day notice to the respondent, the ten working day reply period, and the natural justice standard
[L2-C2]. - Section 19(c) says the employer shall organise workshops and orientation programmes "in the manner as may be prescribed". The manner is set out in Rule 13, which lists five duties of the employer including the internal policy, the orientation programme, employee awareness, capacity building for IC members, and the public declaration of IC member names and contact details
[L2-C3].
A common practitioner mistake is to advise based on the Act alone. If a CEO asks "do we have to publish the names of IC members on the intranet", and you answer based on Section 19 alone, you will miss the answer. It is in Rule 13(e). Read both, every time.
What the Rules add beyond the Act
Three categories of content live almost entirely in the Rules:
- The operational mechanics of inquiry. Rule 7 is the core of how an inquiry runs day to day. The seven and ten working day windows, the rule against legal practitioners appearing for the parties, the right of the Committee to terminate proceedings or pass an ex parte order on three consecutive defaults after fifteen days' written notice, all come from Rule 7
[L2-C2]. - Money items. The NGO member's allowance and travel reimbursement are in Rule 3
[L2-C1]. The Local Committee Chairperson and members' allowances are also set by Rule. - Employer compliance machinery. Rule 13 takes the principle in Section 19 (employer shall provide a safe workplace, run workshops, assist the Committee) and converts it into a five-point operational checklist
[L2-C3].
The reading discipline
When you sit down with a POSH question, work in this order:
- Read the relevant section of the Act in full, including its provisos.
- Note any phrase like "as may be prescribed" and pull the corresponding rule.
- Read the rule in full.
- Check whether any Supreme Court ruling has interpreted that section or rule. After 2023 to 2025, that step is no longer optional.
- Only then form a view.
The temptation to short-circuit this is real. Resist it. The cases that end up in appeal almost always involve a Committee that did step 1 well and skipped steps 2 to 4.