Let truth prevail
Bangalore   13-Aug-2010

The union cabinet's decision to enact a law to protect whistleblowers from adverse consequences of their actions is welcome, though it is long delayed. It is likely to be introduced in the current session of parliament as Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) bill, and passed, as no party can openly oppose its intent or provisions. The bill has been under consideration ever since the National Highways Authority of India engineer Satyendra Dubey was murdered in 2003 after he wrote to then prime minister A B Vajpayee about corruption in the organisation. Since then there have been others like IndianOil's Manjunath Shanmugham who paid the price for exposing corruption. Not long ago an RTI activist who filed a PIL about illegal mining in which an MP was allegedly involved was shot dead outside the Gujarat high court. There are many other lesser known or unknown cases of harassment or punishment of persons who brought to light cases of corruption.

The bill will hopefully protect their lives and careers by making it difficult for their superiors or the targets of their exposures to victimise them. It makes it possible for any person to file a complaint of corruption against any Central, state or public sector employee with the Central Vigilance Commission. The CVC will be given judicial powers to initiate investigations and to protect the whistleblower. If the whistleblower's identity is revealed and he or she comes to any harm the superior officer will be held liable. In order to ensure that the law is not misused, it also has provisions to punish those who file frivolous complaints.

Much will depend on how the law is actually implemented. The CVC has an important role to play in making it an effective instrument to cleanse public and official life. This is worth mentioning because this constitutional office has not in the past lived up to its full responsibilities. If the legislation is implemented well, it can be a revolutionary measure like the RTI law. In some countries insiders who expose corporate fraud are also given legal protection. The importance of this becomes clear when it is known that the Enron and WorldCom scandals involving fraud amounting to billions of dollars were brought to light by employees. They too are whistleblowers who take risks to protect public interest.