Corruption is a social evil which prevents proper balanced social growth and economic development. One of the impediments felt in eliminating corruption in the government and the public sector undertakings is the lack of adequate protection to the complainants reporting the corruption or wilful misuse of power or wilful misuse of discretion which causes demonstrable loss to the government or commission of a criminal offence by a public servant. The Law Commission in its 179th Report has proposed a Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill, which provides protection to whistleblowers. The Bill has provisions for providing safeguards to the whistleblowers against victimization in the organization.

The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010, is commonly known as the Whistleblower‘s Bill. A whistleblower (whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities (misconduct) occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company. The alleged misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud, health/safety violations and corruption. Whistleblowers may make their allegations internally (for example, to other people within the accused organization) or externally (to regulators, law enforcement agencies, to the media or to groups concerned with the issues). Whistleblower legislation has to be put in place to protect informants against retribution. The government, on August 14, 2012, moved The Whistleblowers Protection Bill, 2011, already passed by the Lok Sabha, in the Rajya Sabha with an amendment that seeks to keep issues relating to national security, sovereignty and integrity out of its ambit while seeking to protect public servants exposing corruption. At the time of writing this article, the discussion on the bill moved by the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, V Narayanasamy, remained inconclusive with the House being adjourned in the wake of the demise of the Union Minister of Science and Technology, Vilasrao Deshmukh. Once passed by the Rajya Sabha, the Bill will be referred back to the Lok Sabha for considering the amendment.

Law Review Journal, Whistleblower, Protection, Act, Overview, The Public Interest Disclosure, Protection, Persons Making, Disclosures Bill, Whistleblower.