Journal of African Development

The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) constituted under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“POSH Act”) is the primary adjudicatory forum for allegations of sexual harassment in Indian higher educational institutions, yet its quasi-judicial character is often treated as a formality rather than a legal standard with enforceable content. This paper examines the ICC through the lens of administrative law: its statutory markers of quasi-judicial status, the compositional preconditions Indian High Courts have read into Section 4 of the Act, the preponderance-of-probabilities standard of proof that governs its findings, and the natural justice requirements the Supreme Court crystallised in Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa (2023). Reviewing university-specific precedents — including Jaya Kodate v. Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University and a growing body of post-2023 High Court decisions applying Aureliano Fernandes to academic inquiries — the paper argues that Indian courts have steadily converted the ICC from an internal grievance mechanism into a body bound by the full discipline of natural justice, even as its structural dependence on the employer-institution continues to limit genuine independence. It closes with proposals to reconcile procedural rigour with the Act's protective purpose in the specific context of universities and colleges