The court made the observation while upholding the termination of a junior grade officer of a nationalised bank for sexual harassment of fellow women employees.
Orissa High Court (File Photo)
Sexual harassment (at the workplace) represents a profound distortion of human relationships, transcending mere violations of dignity, social security, and the right to equality, which are fundamental to every social order, the Orissa High Court observed while upholding the termination of a junior grade officer of a nationalised bank on sexual harassment of fellow women employees.
The accused bank officer was dismissed from service on 21 March 2019 by the internal Inquiry authority of the bank’s head office after strictly adhering to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 provisions. The probe committee found prima facie in the allegations of sexual harassment at the workplace leveled by 13 women employees.
The terminated bank officer later moved the high court challenging the harsh step in removing him from service.
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“It is a well-established legal principle that this court should refrain from interfering with the punishment imposed on a delinquent employee by the Disciplinary Authority unless it is found that the penalty is so grossly disproportionate to the misconduct committed as to be deemed shocking,” Dr. Justice S K Pangrahi stated in the order.
The court, while dismissing the plea of the ‘terminated’ banker, held that judicial intervention is justified only when the Disciplinary Authority fails to adhere to the principles of administrative law, particularly the Wednesbury principles, and the doctrine of proportionality.
Sexual harassment in the workplace constitutes a breach of the right to life and peaceful existence as enshrined in law. This issue is to adopt various legal frameworks aimed at eradicating such misconduct, Justice Panigrahi concluded.
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