POSH Annual Report: Deadline, Format and Board Report Disclosure

Every employer covered by the POSH Act must ensure its Internal Committee files an annual report summarising complaint numbers and awareness activity, and for many companies this same data must separately appear in the statutory Board Report filed under the Companies Act.

Key facts at a glance

• The Internal Committee (ICC), not HR, is legally responsible for preparing the POSH annual report.
• The report must state complaints received, disposed of, and pending beyond 90 days, with reasons for pendency.
• The employer must include this information in its own annual report or forward it to the District Officer as prescribed.
• Companies under the Companies Act must separately disclose sexual harassment complaint numbers in the Directors' Report / Board Report.
• A nil report (zero complaints) still needs to be filed - silence is not compliance.
• Non-compliance can attract a fine and, on repeat contravention, risk to business licences or registrations.
• ICC is mandatory for any workplace with 10 or more employees; smaller or unorganised-sector workplaces route complaints through a Local Committee instead.

What the annual report legally has to cover

The POSH Act requires the ICC to compile, at the end of each year, a summary of its case activity and preventive work. This typically includes the number of complaints filed, the number resolved, and the number still pending beyond the 90-day inquiry window along with the reasons for delay. It also covers the number of awareness programmes or workshops conducted for employees during the year.

This is deliberately a summary document, not a case-file dump. Details of individual complaints, including identities of parties, remain confidential under the Act's confidentiality provisions and should never appear in the annual report itself.

Who receives it, and what happens next

The ICC submits its annual report to the employer. The employer then has a downstream obligation: including the relevant figures in the organisation's own annual report, or forwarding the details to the District Officer if the organisation does not otherwise file one. Exact filing timelines and formats can vary by state notification, so employers should confirm the current process with their District Officer's office or state's Women and Child Development department rather than assuming a single national deadline applies uniformly.

Board Report disclosure under the Companies Act

Separately from the POSH Act's own reporting chain, companies governed by the Companies Act have a distinct obligation. The Directors' Report (Board Report) must disclose the number of sexual harassment complaints filed during the financial year, the number disposed of, and the number pending for more than ninety days at year end. This is a company-law requirement layered on top of the POSH Act's own reporting obligation, and both need to be satisfied - one does not substitute for the other.

Why this has become higher stakes recently

POSH annual reporting is no longer treated as a paperwork formality. Courts and regulators have increasingly pushed for verifiable ICC compliance, including calls for district-wise audits and registration of Internal Committees on the government's SHe-Box portal. Investors, auditors and even licensing authorities are paying closer attention to whether the disclosed numbers in a Board Report are consistent with what the ICC actually recorded, which raises the cost of a sloppy or inconsistent annual report.

What HR and company secretaries should check

Reconcile the ICC's internal case count against what goes into the Board Report before either is finalised - discrepancies between the two documents are an easy red flag for auditors or inspectors. Confirm your ICC is actually constituted, active, and has met during the year, since a report from a defunct or improperly constituted committee does not satisfy the underlying obligation even if a document gets filed.

If you are not sure your ICC's reporting and documentation would hold up to scrutiny, ComplianceCheck's POSH assessment gives you a clear picture in a few minutes.

Sources

• Ministry of Women and Child Development - wcd.nic.in
• Ministry of Corporate Affairs - mca.gov.in
• SHe-Box portal (government POSH complaint and ICC registration portal)
• Relevant state Women and Child Development department / District Officer's office

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Requirements vary by state, sector and headcount - confirm specifics with a compliance professional or the relevant authority.