HBS Internal Complaints Committee

Hallmark Business School (HBS) is committed to provide a safe, fair, and harmonious learning and work environment for all its students, teaching, and non-teaching staff members. Particularly, to build self-esteem and dignity among girl students and women faculty members, HBS offers services such as counselling, legal aid, creating awareness regarding women’s rights, prohibiting sexual harassment at the workplace, and arranging programs regarding health, personality development etc.

Objectives

The committee aims to sensitize and create awareness about gender justice among the academic and non-academic community in the institution. The Committee is responsible for looking into any complaints filed by students or staff about sexual harassment if any happening inside the college premises. The objectives of the ICC are:

To prevent sexual harassment at the workplace.
To prevent discrimination and sexual harassment against women by promoting gender amity among students and employees
To resolve the issues pertaining to sexual harassment
To provide a platform for listening to complaints and redressal of grievances
To foster healthy relationship with opposite gender
To equip students, faculty and staff with the knowledge of their legal rights and avenues available for redressal of their grievances by regularly organizing programs on women empowerment
To facilitate speedy delivery of justice, through organizing meetings at regular intervals

Definition of Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment means any unwanted conduct with sexual undertones if it occurs or which is persistent and which demeans, humiliates, or creates a hostile or intimidating environment or induces submission by actual or threatened adverse consequences and includes any one or more or all of the following unwelcome acts or behaviour (whether directly or by implication), namely,

Any unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature
Demand or request for sexual favors
Making sexually colored remarks
Physical contact and advances
Showing pornography

Anyone (or more than one) of the following circumstances, if it occurs or is present in relation or connected with any behaviour that has explicit or implicit sexual undertones:

Implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment as quid-pro-quo for sexual favors
Implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in the conduct of work
Implied or explicit threat about the present or future status of the person connected
Creating an intimidating offensive or hostile learning environment
Humiliating treatment likely to affect the health, safety, dignity, or physical integrity of the person concerned.

Internal Complaints Committee

S.NO	FACULTY NAME	DEPARTMENT	DESIGNATION	Email id	PHONE NUMBER
1	Dr. SR. Rameshkkumar	MBA / Director	Chairperson	director@hbs.ac.in	8870728477
2	Dr. S. Kanimozhi	MBA / Associate Professor	Member	kanimozhi@hbs.ac.in	9884109109
3	Soniya E Mathew	MBA / Associate Professor	Member	Sonializamathew@hbs.ac.in	9789022906
4	K. Aruna	MBA / Associate Professor	Member	9842494195	9842494195
5	Mrs. Kaviya	Hostel Warden	Member	9942967000	9942967000

S.NO	STUDENT NAME	YEAR	DESIGNATION
1	Priyadharshini B	II Year MBA	Student Member
2	Deepshiga R	II Year MBA	Student Member
3	Sherin Rubisia J	II Year MBA	Student Member
4	Sahithiya	II Year MBA	Student Member

S.NO	STUDENT NAME	YEAR	DESIGNATION
1	Aarthi	I Year MBA	Student Member
2	Janani	I Year MBA	Student Member
3	Janani Ishwariya	I Year MBA	Student Member
4	Keerthana	I Year MBA	Student Member

ICC Responsibilities

Provide assistance if an employee or student chooses to file a complaint
Provide mechanisms of dispute redressal and dialogue to anticipate and address issues through just and fair conciliation without undermining complainant’s rights
Protect the safety of the complainant by not divulging the person’s identity and provide the mandatory relief by way of sanctioned leave or relaxation of attendance requirement or transfer to another department or supervisor as required during the pendency of the complaint, or also provide for the transfer of the offender
Ensure that the victims and witnesses are not victimized or discriminated against while dealing with complaints or sexual harassment

Complaint Filing Procedure

An aggrieved person is required to submit a written complaint to the ICC within one month from the date of incident and in case of series of incidents within a period of one month from the date of last incident. Provided that where such complaint cannot be made in the writing, the Presiding Officer or any member of the ICC shall render all reasonable assistance to the person for making the complaint in writing. Provided further that the ICC, may for the reasons to be accorded in writing, extend the time limit by not exceeding three months, if it is satisfied that the circumstances were such that it would have prevented the person from filing a complaint within the said period. Friends, relatives, colleagues, co-student, psychologist, or any other associate of the victim may file the complaint on account of physical or mental incapacity.

The complaint filing procedure should be updated with online mode google form, offline complaint box and phone numbers.

Enquiry Process

With Seven days of filling a complaint, the ICC is required to give a copy of the complaint to the alleged offender
Within 10 days of the ICC giving the complaint, the alleged offender must file their reply and provide details on their witnesses
The ICC can take upto 90 days for enquiry and submitting a report. This report should be sent to the victim and the offender within 10 days of the report being submitted
The ICC cannot take more than 30 days after the submission of the report to take action against the offender in accordance with the report’s instructions
During the entire process, the identity of the victim and the alleged offender should be protected. Both sides can produce witnesses and evidence.

Safety of the Victim

Fearing the safety of the victim, the institute can:

Transfer the victim or the abuser to a different section or department
Grant leave to the victim with full benefits for a period of three months
Restrict the abuser from evaluating the work of the victim
Warn the offender to keep a distance from the victim if there is a threat, and even bar their entry into campus
Take strict measures to provide a safe and conducive environment for the victim
Anonymity of the witness will be maintained, if necessary.

Action Against Frivolous Complaint

To ensure that the provisions of employees and students from sexual harassment do not get misused, provisions against false or malicious complaints is made and publicized by the institution. If the ICC concludes that the allegations made were false, malicious or the complaint was made knowing it to be untrue, or forged or misleading information has been provided during the inquiry, the complainant shall be liable for punishment. However, the inability to substantiate a complaint or provide adequate proof will not attract punishment against the complainant. Malicious intent on the part of the complainant shall not be established without an inquiry, in accordance with the procedure prescribed, conducted before any action is recommended.

Complaints can be registered through an offline suggestion box or by using the following online Google form.

Submit Complaints Online

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