Pune Municipal Corporation has barred former deputy mayor Mukari Anna Algude from entering its premises until further orders after a female employee filed a complaint alleging misconduct, according to a report by Civic Mirror – Pune.
The complaint was submitted to the civic body’s Vishakha Committee, the internal committee responsible for examining complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace. The PMC administration imposed the access restriction after taking note of the complaint, the report said. The allegation has not been established by an adjudicating authority, and the report did not include a response from Algude.
According to the report, the employee works in the municipal corporation’s municipal secretary department. The alleged incident took place on a Thursday afternoon when a standing committee meeting and lunch break had reduced the number of people present in the office, Civic Mirror – Pune reported.
The report alleges that Algude held the employee’s hand and used abusive language. The employee is said to have freed herself and informed senior officials about the incident. She subsequently filed a formal complaint with the Vishakha Committee.
The committee’s chairperson, advocate Nisha Chavan, assured the complainant that appropriate action would be taken, according to the report. The committee’s examination will determine how the complaint is handled within the civic body’s institutional process. No findings of the committee were available in the supplied report.
The access restriction is an immediate administrative measure and is separate from any final determination on the allegation. The action also places the civic corporation’s internal workplace-protection mechanisms at the centre of the case, since the complaint involves a former public office-bearer and an employee working inside the municipal administration.
The report said the incident had triggered anger among PMC employees. It did not provide details of any police complaint, criminal case, suspension order or other proceedings outside the municipal corporation’s internal committee process. It also did not state the duration of the restriction beyond saying that Algude would be barred from entering the municipal premises until further orders.
The next formal step identified in the report is the Vishakha Committee’s examination of the complaint and the action to be taken by the civic administration.
