The Madhya Pradesh High Court has set aside a ₹35 lakh compensation order made against the former vice chancellor of Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education (LNIPE), ruling that such a penalty cannot be enforced while an appeal against the underlying Internal Committee findings remains pending.
The division bench of the Gwalior Bench, in Dr. Dilip Kumar Dureha v. Smt. Anusha Deepak Tyagi [2026 LiveLaw (MP) 246], examined a key procedural question under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, commonly known as the POSH Act, namely whether a compensation order against a respondent can stand when their appeal against the Internal Committee's (IC) findings is still being heard.
The IC had recorded its findings in 2020, confirming allegations of sexual harassment made by a yoga instructor at LNIPE. Although the IC did not recommend penal action, the appellant filed an appeal under Section 18 of the POSH Act, which remained pending. A single judge had subsequently directed the vice chancellor to pay ₹35 lakhs in compensation; the division bench has now quashed that direction.
The court held that the right to appeal under the POSH Act is both a procedural and a substantive statutory entitlement, and that the Appellate Authority must examine the matter before any consequential relief from the IC's findings can be determined. Penal action in the form of a compensation order, the court underscored, cannot be enforced while the appellate process is ongoing.
Legal analysis of the ruling notes that it provides important guidance to employers and employees on the procedural requirements of the POSH Act, and reaffirms the appellate mechanism under Section 18 as a substantive safeguard not a procedural formality within workplace harassment proceedings.
