NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and the state governments to undertake a time bound exercise to verify whether sexual harassment committees have been constituted in all ministries and the departments. The top court said there are serious lapses in the enforcement of the 2013 Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act. A bench of Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli said an improperly constituted sexual harassment panel would be an impediment in conducting an inquiry at the workplace, as envisaged under the statute and the rules. The apex court said it will be equally counterproductive to have an ill prepared committee conduct a half-baked inquiry that can lead to serious consequences like imposition of major penalties on a delinquent employee. “The Union of India, all State Governments and Union Territories are directed to undertake a time bound exercise to verify as to whether all the concerned Ministries, Departments, Government organizations, authorities, Public Sector Undertakings, institutions, bodies, etc. have constituted ICCs/LCs/ICs, as the case may be and that the composition of the said Committees are strictly in terms of the provisions of the PoSH Act,” the bench said. “It shall be ensured that necessary information...