ANNEXE 1 – Composition of COGSASH and Selection Procedures

(1.) Composition

(a) COGSASH shall have seven or more members. More than half of the members of COGSASH shall be women. Members of all constituencies at JGU are sought to be included in COGSASH. The composition of the members is given below.

(i) A Presiding Officer who shall be a woman employed at a senior level at the workplace from amongst the employees.

(ii) Three faculty members (two women, one man) with a representation of different schools within JGU preferably with experience in social work, legal knowledge and who are committed to the cause of women.

(iv) One outside expert from an NGO or association committed to the cause of women or sexual harassment. Fees or allowances will be paid to the outside expert as will be prescribed.

(2.) Selection procedure

(a) The Members of the COGSASH shall be nominated by the Vice Chancellor of JGU in consultation with the Registrar.

(b) Amendments to the Committee will then be made via a recommendation and vote system managed by the Member Secretary and Presiding Officer of the Committee with approval from the Registrar/Vice-Chancellor of JGU.

(c) Once all internal members of the new COGSASH have been selected, they will choose a woman faculty member from amongst them as the Presiding Officer and nominate the outside expert.

(3.) Time frame of selection

(a) For all COGSASH subsequent to the first COGSASH, first the internal members of the new COGSASH would be selected according to the procedures outlined above at least two months before the end of the tenure of the existing COGSASH. These members would then meet to nominate the outside expert. The new COGSASH (including the outside expert) has to be fully constituted at least one month before the end of the tenure of the existing COGSASH.

(4.) Tenure

(a) As per The Act 2013 Section 4(3) “The Presiding Officer and every Member of the Internal Committee shall hold office for such period, not exceeding three years, from the date of their nomination as may be specified by the employer.”

(5.) Powers, Functions and Meetings of COGSASH

(a) Powers:

(i) COGSASH shall create awareness about sexual harassment and deal with and punish acts of sexual harassment.

(ii) Members of COGSASH shall be sensitive to the issue of sexual harassment and shall not let personal biases and prejudices (whether based on gender, caste, class, sexuality) and stereotypes (e.g., pre-determined notions of how a “victim” or “accused” should dress or behave) to affect their functioning as members.

(iii) Functions: COGSASH shall have the following two functions:

(iv) Gender sensitisation and awareness generation

(v) Dealing with complaints about sexual harassment, including receipt of complaints, screening, informal mediation, conducting formal inquiry and redressal.

(b) Meetings: In order to carry out the above functions, COGSASH shall follow the rules mentioned below:

(i) COGSASH shall meet twice a year in addition to a public meeting for reporting/audit purposes (see clause 7). Additional meetings could be held as necessary to deal with issues or complaints that may arise.

(ii) Members shall be intimated of meetings in writing or by electronic communication at least five working days in advance except in the case of an Emergency Meeting mentioned in clause 3 below.

(iii) Any member of COGSASH may request the Presiding Officer to call an Emergency Meeting. A notice of at least one working day shall be required for such a meeting to be called.

(iv) The quorum for all meetings shall be more than half of the existing members of COGSASH. Motions shall be carried by a simple majority of those present and voting (except in the two cases discussed in Sections 9 and 13 below). The procedure for voting will be secret ballot conducted by the Chairperson.

(v) If the required quorum is not there at any meeting, such a meeting shall be adjourned for not more than seven working days. For an adjourned meeting, the required quorum shall be the same as in a regular meeting except in the case of an adjourned Emergency Meeting where there shall be no requirement of quorum.

(vi) Minutes of all meetings shall be recorded, confirmed and adopted.

(vii) COGSASH shall hold at least one public meeting every year where it shall report to the JGU community about its activities and present its Annual Report.

(6.) Gender Sensitisation and Awareness Generation

(a) For the purpose of creating gender sensitisation and awareness generation JGU and COGSASH shall perform the following functions:

(ii) COGSASH shall ensure the prominent publicity of these Rules in JGU by displaying it (in a summary form) on the main notice board and the employees’ notice board (at the entrance), the library notice board and at the canteen/dining halls and student housing.

(iv) These Rules shall be translated in Hindi so as to be accessible to all members of the JGU community.

(v) These Rules shall be briefly mentioned in the prospectus and orientation brochures of all academic programmes offered at JGU along with information about where it would be available.

(vi) Each recruitment announcement of JGU shall include the following line: “JGU is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing an environment free from sexual harassment”.

(vii) COGSASH shall organize programmes for the gender sensitisation of JGU community through workshops, seminars, posters, film shows, debates, skits, etc.

(viii) COGSASH shall empanel a list of counsellors to extend support in specific instances of sexual harassment as well as to facilitate gender sensitisation in general. In specific instances, COGSASH shall inform the complainant, the defendant and other interested parties about the contact details of the panel and encourage them to use the same.

(ix) These Rules, in summary form, shall be printed on the admission, application and registration forms of JGU for the students each year/semester, and signed by them before they submit their forms.

(x) All new service contracts for employees on JGU at all levels must include acceptance of these Rules as a part of the service contract.

(7.)  Definitions

(a) “Academic staff” includes any person on the staff of JGU who is appointed to a teaching and/or research post, whether full-time, permanent, temporary, ad-hoc, part-time, visiting, honorary, or on special duty or deputation, and shall include persons employed on a casual or project basis.

(b) “Appropriate Authority” shall refer to any person to whom the power of Directorship may be delegated, except in the case where either the complainant or/and the defendant is/are part of “faculty” in which case the appropriate authority would be the Governing Body.

(c) “Authority” means Authority as provided under the Haryana Private Universities Act, 2006.

(d) “Campus” includes all places of work (instruction, research and administration), as well as hostels, guesthouses, canteen and other public places on the Sonipat Campus.

(e) “Committees” Means the Internal Complaints Committee as constituted under Section 4 of the The Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2013.

(f) “Employee” means any person on the staff of JGU, including faculty, non-teaching staff, and project staff; permanent, temporary, part-time, visiting, ad-hoc and honorary employees by whatever name called and would include persons employed on a casual basis and also those employed through contractors. It includes any person employed at a workplace for any work on a regular, temporary, ad hoc or daily wage basis, either directly or through an agent, including a contractor, with or, without the knowledge of the principle employer, whether for remuneration or not, or working on a voluntary basis or otherwise, whether the terms of employment are express or implied and includes a co-worker, a contract worker, probationer, trainee, apprentice or called by any other such name.” Section 2(f) The Sexual Harassment Act 2013.

(g) “Faculty” includes any person on the staff of JGU who is appointed on a temporary or permanent basis, including researchers in various categories and research associates, and any outside faculty temporarily affiliated with JGU.

(h) “Non-teaching staff” includes any person on the staff of JGU who is not appointed to a teaching and/or research post, whether full-time, permanent, temporary, ad-hoc, part-time, daily wage, honorary or on special duty or deputation, and shall include persons employed on a casual or project basis, as also persons employed through a contractor.

(i) “Off-campus official duty” would refer to any activity being undertaken outside the “campus” on behalf of JGU, this would include, but not be restricted to, workshops, field work, group holidays/excursions organized by JGU, and interviews/meetings with outside people along with the period of traveling for such activity.

(j) “Officers” means Officers as provided under the Haryana Private Universities Act, 2006.

(k) “Outsider” includes any person who is not a student, or member of the academic or non-teaching staff of JGU.

(l) “Outside expert” includes any person with expertise in fields relevant to the working of COGSASH; this could include an academician, an experienced person from an NGO, an activist or a legal expert from outside JGU.

(m) “Project staff” includes any person on the staff of JGU who is appointed on a temporary or permanent basis as part of a specific project.

(n) “Student” means any person who is enrolled for any degree/diploma/certificate course at JGU (full-time/part-time/short term/long term). It also includes a student of another University or college or research institution who has been placed or has opted for placement with JGU or is auditing/attending courses at JGU or is temporarily affiliated with JGU.

(o) “Service provider” includes any person or entity who provides services to JGU or its “employees” and “students”.

(p) “Supreme Court Judgments” shall refer to the guidelines on the prevention and deterrence of sexual harassment in the workplace laid down by the Supreme Court of India in its judgment dated 13 August 1997 in Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan and the judgment dated 20th January 1999 in Apparel Export Promotion Council vs. A. K. Chopra.

(q) “Visitors” would include all persons who are not employees or students of JGU; these include “service providers”, participants in a seminar, workshop or a training programme, students’ relatives, alumni or students from another institution, and any other outsiders who are on the “campus” of JGU to meet with any employee or student or use the library and other facilities of JGU.