The Delhi High Court was today informed that the Supreme Court has stayed its order forming a temporary Internal Complaint Committee (TICC) in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to proceed with 31 pending complaints of sexual harassment.
The high court's bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar said it would not be appropriate for it to proceed with the plea challenging the formation of Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) by JNU administration, as of now, as the matter is pending before the apex court.
"We cannot proceed till the Supreme Court order is there. We should not proceed. As far as final hearing in the matter is concerned, we will not proceed today," the bench said.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by a group of teachers and students of JNU opposing the office order disbanding the Gender Sensitisation Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) committee and replacing it by ICC.
They had also opposed a registrar's circular putting on hold the election of students' representatives to the dissolved body.
The JNU has moved the top court challenging the two orders of the high court passed on December 19 last year and February 22 this year.
The Supreme Court had on April 23, issued notice on the plea and said that "until further orders, there shall be stay of operation of the impugned order/s passed by the High Court. However, we make it clear that the ICC may proceed with all complaints in the meanwhile."
The high court on December 19, 2017 had formed the three-member TICC saying that it will consist of one member each of the present ICC and erstwhile GSCASH and the third member would be nominated by them from an NGO or an association committed to the cause of women.
In its February 22 order, the bench had asked the authorities to comply with its December 19 order.
During the day's hearing, senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for petitioner teachers and students, said the court should hear her arguments on the main petition as it was different from the interim order.
She further claimed that the JNU administration had broke open locks of the disbanded GSCASH's office and took all the documents in their custody.
The bench, however, listed for July 19 the petition challenging the varsity administration's decision on disbanding the GSCASH and forming the ICC instead.
The high court had earlier asked the JNU to maintain status quo on the sealing of the office of GSCASH committee which was superseded by the ICC.
The JNU administration had in its 269th Executive Council meeting held on September 18 ordered the dissolution of the independent body GSCASH.
As an interim relief, the petitioners had sought a stay on the operation of the order to disband GSCASH and a direction to JNU to preserve all records of GSCASH from 1999 till date in consultation with GSCASH.
The petition was filed by three teachers and three students Prof Madhu Sahni, Prof Rajat Dutta, Prof Hemant Adlakha, Ritika Kar, Rituraj Sharma and Sonam Goyal.
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