Only three High Courts are fully compliant, the Supreme Court has been told, and it now wants a single High Court-wise chart showing where every court and Bar Association stands on sexual harassment committees.
New Delhi: Working from the affidavits that every High Court has now filed, the Supreme Court on Thursday, October 15, ordered a consolidated, High Court-wise compliance chart on sexual harassment committees for women and transgender persons in courts and Bar Associations across the country, in a public interest petition by advocate Geeta Rani [Geeta Rani v. Union of India and Others].
The direction came from a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. It was told that only the High Courts of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim have fully complied.
Three compliant, the rest still short
Elsewhere, the Bench heard, gaps persist. They run through several High Courts and the subordinate courts beneath them, and they include the mechanisms meant for transgender persons.
One chart, built from the affidavits already on file
The chart is to be drawn up from the affidavits the High Courts have already filed. Once ready, it will be circulated among the parties, in particular the counsel for the High Courts, and then placed on record.
High Courts that wish to take stock of their present position have been allowed to do so. Where needed, they may file updated affidavits showing what has changed since their submissions of March and April 2026.
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The petition so far
Geeta Rani asks for the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, commonly called the POSH Act, to be applied uniformly within the justice system itself. In January 2026, a Bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked the High Courts whether Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committees existed in the High Courts, district and sub-divisional courts, tribunals, Bar Associations and allied forums.
Appearing for the petitioner at that hearing, Senior Advocate Sonia Mathur said that seven High Courts had yet to frame regulations for constituting such committees, and that district courts under some High Courts had not set them up. The affidavits filed in March and April 2026 are what the chart will now draw on.
The framework itself goes back to the Vishaka guidelines of 1997, which required complaints committees headed by a woman, and to the POSH Act of 2013, which gave workplace protection statutory form. The present petition tests how far that framework reaches the women advocates, litigants and staff who work in courts and Bar Associations.
A side-by-side view
Once compiled, the chart is expected to put every High Court and its subordinate courts on one page. That should make the remaining gaps, including those concerning transgender persons, easier to spot before any further directions are considered.
Case Title: Geeta Rani v. Union of India and Others (descriptive title; case number not available)
Bench: Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Supreme Court of India
Date of Hearing: October 15, 2026
Appearances: Not available