LAHORE: Governor Punjab Muhammad Balighur Rehman has issued a letter to the Vice Chancellors/Rectors of the public sector and private sector to evolve a mechanism to report and respond to incidents of sexual harassment in universities.

In the letter, the governor said that inquiry committees should be notified in terms of respective provisions of the Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2010, and the HEC policy on protection against sexual harassment in higher educational institutions In case, these committees have already been notified, steps should be taken to make them pro active and efficient in disposal of such cases.

The Governor Punjab said that all the complaints of sexual harassment should be sent to these committees with instructions to complete the inquiry in 45 days as per the guidelines of the said policy and act.

He directed to put in place an effective mechanism to report and respond to incidents of sexual harassment in universities.

According to the letter, it has been made mandatory to appoint a senior female faculty member as a focal person in the universities. In the letter, it has been emphasized that strict measures should be taken to prevent incidents of sexual harassment and that it will be the responsibility of the university administration to make students fully aware of the code of conduct. It further said that it will be the responsibility of the concerned university to immediately address the complaint of sexual harassment by facilitating the complaint mechanism.

The Governor said that all the universities will be bound to make the monitoring system effective. He said that the policy and procedures of reporting such complaints must be publically and readily available to the people with Urdu translation and, if possible, in other local languages.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023