The Supreme Court has clarified that members of the armed forces are not shut out from questioning Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) findings under the POSH Act. In a significant ruling, the Court held that such challenges can be heard by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).
A bench comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan overturned a Delhi High Court view that had denied an army officer the right to approach the AFT against an ICC report. The Supreme Court said the legal framework, when read as a whole, points clearly in the opposite direction.
According to the Court, Section 18 of the POSH Act expressly allows an appeal against ICC recommendations before a “court or tribunal,” subject to service rules. When this provision is read alongside Section 14 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007, the AFT emerges as the appropriate forum. The officer, the Court said, was correct in approaching the Tribunal to contest both the ICC’s findings and its recommendations.
The case stemmed from a sexual harassment complaint against a naval officer. An ICC was constituted under the POSH Act and, after inquiry, recommended disciplinary action. Acting on that report, naval authorities issued a show-cause notice in March 2025 proposing termination of service under the Navy Regulations and the Navy Act.
The officer challenged both the ICC process and the show-cause notice before the AFT. The Tribunal declined to step in, reasoning that it was premature to interfere at the show-cause stage and that the officer should first respond to the disciplinary authority. That view was later endorsed by the Delhi High Court, which also held that no appeal lay under Section 18 of the POSH Act.
The Supreme Court disagreed on both counts. It described the High Court’s conclusion on the absence of an appellate remedy as a “manifest error,” noting that the statute itself provides otherwise. The Court also observed that the AFT failed to examine the challenge as an appeal under the POSH Act, as it was required to do.
Setting aside the orders of both the AFT and the Delhi High Court, the Supreme Court sent the matter back to the Tribunal. The AFT has been directed to hear the officer’s application afresh, treating it as an appeal under Section 18 of the POSH Act read with the AFT Act.
With this ruling, the Court has reinforced that statutory appeal rights under workplace harassment law extend to uniformed personnel as well—and that specialised service tribunals cannot sidestep that mandate.
