Project report on effectiveness of whistle

blowers laws in india

UILS PANJAB UNIVERSITY

• Submitted to-
• Dr Nehmat bajwa

• Submitted by-
• Gurkaran singh chahal
• Ballb 5 th sem
• Roll number 36/21
• Section A
 Whistleblowers protection act
Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011(renamed as Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014 by
the second schedule of the Repealing and Amending Act, 2015) is an Act of the Parliament of
India which provides a mechanism to investigate alleged corruption and misuse of power by
public servants and also protect anyone who exposes alleged wrongdoing in government bodies,
projects and offices. The wrongdoing might be in the form of fraud, corruption or
mismanagement. The Act will also ensure punishment for false or frivolous complaints.
INTENT
• An Act to establish a mechanism to receive complaints relating to
disclosure on any allegation of corruption or willful misuse of power
or willful misuse of discretion against any public servant and to
inquire or cause an inquiry into such disclosure and to provide
adequate safeguards against victimization of the person making such
complaint and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.
SALIENT FEATURES

• The Act seeks to protect whistle blowers, i.e. persons making a public
interest disclosure related to an act of corruption, misuse of power, or
criminal offense by a public servant.
• Any public servant or any other person including a non-governmental
organization may make such a disclosure to the Central or State
Vigilance Commission.
• Every complaint has to include the identity of the complainant.
• The Vigilance Commission shall not disclose the identity of the
complainant except to the head of the department if deemed necessary.
The Act penalizes any person who has disclosed the identity of the
complainant.
• The Act prescribes penalties for knowingly making false complaints.
Effectiveness of whistleblowers law in india

• the recent election of Narendra Modi as prime minister of India

demonstrates that the Indian population wants change and supports
actions against corruption (as do recent polls, such as the
Lowy Institute study, which found that 96 percent of Indians believe
corruption is holding the country back, and 92 percent believe that
reducing corruption should be one of the government’s top priorities).
One of the most important obstacles to fighting corruption in India
has been the lack of adequate whistleblower protections. Individuals
reporting incidents of bribery or corruption faced numerous hurdles,
including verbal threats, physical violence, and ostracism. Others
encountered workplace retaliation. Confronted with these risks, many
potential whistleblowers chose to remain silent.
• But there are encouraging signs that this may change. On May
14, 2014, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee cleared the way
for the Whistleblowers Protection Act. This action represents a
much-needed change from the history of delay surrounding the
original bill, which was first introduced in August 2010 and then
took years to pass the two Houses of Parliament—it passed in
Lok Sabha on December 11, 2011 and in Rajya Sabha on
February 21, 2014. The new whistleblower law is a significant
achievement. Nonetheless, the law has some important
limitations, and there are outstanding concerns about whether
the law will be enforced effectively and foster public confidence.
• The new Whistleblower Protection Law gives the Central Vigilance Commission
(CVC) the task of receiving complaints, assessing public disclosure requests,
and safeguarding complainants. The law further strengthens protection for
whistleblowers through stronger anti-retaliation provisions: The CVC has the
power to order that whistleblowers who suffered employment retaliation be
restored to their prior positions. Moreover, the new law puts the burden of proof
on the public official to show that any adverse action taken against a
whistleblower was not retaliatory. Another key feature of the new legislation is
that it ensures confidentiality and penalizes any public official that reveals a
complainant’s identity, without proper approval, with up to three years
imprisonment and a fine of up to 50,000 rupees. Additional penalties apply to
organizations and individuals that fail to comply with CVC requests for
information, or that knowingly provide incomplete, incorrect, or misleading
information.
• On the other hand, the law also places various limitations on
complainants. Most notably, there is penalty of up to two years
imprisonment and a fine of up to 20,000 rupees for individuals
that bring false or frivolous complaints. There is also a 7-year
time limit to bring complaints, dating from the time the alleged
corrupt practices occurred. In essence, the whistleblower law
seeks to balance two conflicting interests—the need to protect
the individuals raising complaints against the need to prevent
unnecessary harassment of public officials and minimize
frivolous claims.
• While the new law is certainly an important step, a number of
limitations and concerns remain. First, the law lacks specific criminal
penalties for physical attacks on whistleblowers—and given the
number of violent attacks on complainants in the past, this is not a
minor concern. Second, the law does not provide civil penalties for
workplace retaliation. Thus, protection for whistleblowers under the
bill is still inadequate. Moreover, whereas other countries like the
United States, the United Kingdom and Canada define “disclosure”
and “victimization” broadly for purposes of their respective
whistleblower protection laws, India’s law does not define
“victimization” and has a relatively narrow definition for “disclosure.”
This again limits the effectiveness of any complainant safeguards.
Conclusion

• Beyond these specific deficiencies, there is a broader set of concerns

about whether the law will actually be enforced effectively.
Enforcement—and rebuilding public trust in the government—will be
critical to the new law’s success. Given the history of scandals, the
government needs to regain the people’s confidence and help them
believe that the whistleblower law will really provide the type of
protection it promises. Otherwise, individuals will continue to stay
silent regarding abuses of power. Also, without proper enforcement,
the protections described will be ineffective and may even exacerbate
the problem of corruption altogether.
Bibliography
• Wikipidea.com
• Nationallawreview.in
• Lexology.com