More articles by

Soni Mishra
Soni Mishra

NEW DELHI

Forum for citizen whistleblowers formed

Prashant-Bhushan-pti (File) Prashant Bhushan | PTI

Accusing the ruling dispensation of attempting to weaken the Whistleblower Protection law, civil society members on Tuesday came together to announce the formation of a citizen whistleblowers forum, where complaints can be lodged and which will help citizens take up their grievances with the relevant authorities.

The forum, comprising seven members, will be chaired by former chief justice of the Delhi High Court A.P.Shah. The other founding members of the forum are social activist Aruna Roy, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, former chief of the Indian Navy and anti-corruption activist Admiral Lara Ramdas, electoral reforms activist Jagdeep Chhokar and former finance secretary E.A.S.Sarma.

Announcing the forum, Bhushan said thousands of whistleblower complaints have been received by the Central Vigilance Commission, but there is hardly any case where it has found officers guilty and recommended action or protected whistleblowers from administrative victimisation.

He accused the government of having plans of weakening the Whistleblowers Protection Act, which was passed by Parliament in 2014, but which is yet to be notified.

“The government now says that it is waiting to amend the Act before notifying it. The proposed amendment will emasculate the Act,” Bhushan said. According to him, the proposed amendment, which has already been cleared by the Lok Sabha and is pending in the Rajya Sabha, instead of providing the whistleblower with protection, makes him or her liable for prosecution under the Official Secrets Act if the information he or she provides cannot be accessed under the Right to Information.

Questioning the government's commitment to fighting corruption, Shah asked why a Lokpal has not yet been appointed and claimed that the Prevention of Corruption Act was also being weakened. He said that if the Lokpal was not appointed soon, the forum could even approach the court on the issue.

About the role of the forum, he said, “Hiding the identity of the whistleblower is very crucial. The committee will certainly support him or her to take the matter to the appropriate authority or even the court.”

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.