Indian Law: Who is a Whistleblower?

A whistleblower is a person who raises concern about frauds, corruptions, wrongdoings and mismanagement. For instance, a government employee who exposes corruption practices, within his department is a whistleblower. So is an employee of a private organization, who raises his voice against misconduct, within the company. 

 

The misconduct can be classified in several ways, such as:

 

A whistleblower may approach an external agency, such as law enforcement officers, media or social groups. He may also report the matter to other members of the organization.

 

 

The whistleblower protection law has been enforced in various countries. Now, the government of India is planning to enact such a law, particularly after the murder of Satyendra Dubey, an engineer with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Dubey was killed after he wrote to the ex-Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee’s office about the corrupt practices in the construction of highways.

 

Dubey had specified in his letter that his identity should remain concealed. True to word, the letter was forwarded to the concerned departments, without an attempt to conceal his identity. Dubey was murdered and his death led to a public outcry.

 

 

A similar case is that of Manjunath Shanmugham, a sales manager of the IOC. He was killed in 2005 for uncovering a racket that dealt in petrol adulteration. Following the public outrage surrounding his murder, the government proposed a bill pertaining to the matter. The Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) developed the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill. The bill provides that anyone can file a complaint of corruption, with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), against any employee of the Central Government or organizations backed by the Central Government.

 

The CVC is an authorized nodal agency for addressing complaints. It has powers similar to a civil court, such as powers to issue summons, order police investigation and provide protection to the whistleblower. However, the CVC is not authorized, by Indian laws to address the complaints regarding matter that are already in court’s purview, prejudicial to national security, international relations and proceedings of the Union Cabinet.