Kandivli resident moves high court for protection of whistleblowers

Raja Basu, petitioner

A Kandivili resident has approached the High Court of Bombay, raising concerns about the victimisation of people speaking the truth, as the act passed in Parliament years ago to protect the whistleblowers remains just on paper.

The Lok Sabha had passed the Whistleblowers Protection Act in 2011 and the Rajya Sabha cleared it in 2014, however, till date neither the state nor the central governments have framed rules for the implementation of its provisions.

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed last week by Raja Basu, who once worked with the Shipping Corporation of India, a Union government enterprise. Basu, who claims to be a whistleblower, said he made numerous complaints to the Centre, CBI, Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and the Prime Minister's Office, alleging wrongdoings and corruption within the organisation. However, instead of being applauded for his courage, he was subjected to enquiries and departmental action, and then terminated from service. He had been filing these complaints since 2009, and was sacked in 2017. Basu said he would have kept his job had the Act been enforced.

Just on paper

"Despite there being a legislative scheme, whistleblowers continue to face punitive transfers, are falsely implicated in criminal and departmental proceedings, and at times even murdered. In fact, the judiciary has started taking judicial notice of the fact that whistleblowers are victimised," the PIL reads.

Advocate Rajeshwar Panchal, who is representing Basu, said, "The Centre, in January 2017, gave the Supreme Court assurances that suitable amendments to the Act would be made for consideration. However, the Centre seems to have done nothing about it. In other words, both the Centre and the state have not framed any rules as required under Sections 25 and 26 of the Act, respectively. Resultantly, the Act remains just on paper and the whistleblowers are being deprived of their protection under the Act."

For not framing the rules, the Centre had told the SC that some provisions of the Whistleblowers Protection Act were overlapping with that of the Right to Information Act, and the Whistleblowers Protection Act needed amendments, Panchal said. "However, five years have passed since the Centre's statement in the SC in 2017, and nothing has happened," he added.

Protection for others

Through his PIL, Basu wants the implementation of the provisions in the Whistleblowers Protection Act to ensure protection to all those who dare to raise their concern against wrongdoings. "I failed to get protection, as the Whistleblower Protection Act's provisions have not been implemented by the Government of India. I have suffered, and do not want others to suffer simply because of honesty and for raising their voice against corruption. After all, integrity and honesty of public servants are the bedrock of the rule of law," Basu said.

"It is unfortunate that in the country whose national emblem contains the slogan of Satyamev Jayate, whistleblowers, who stand by truth, are victimised in various ways. Some are falsely implicated in criminal cases, while whistleblowers who are public servants face departmental enquiry, and at times, some are even murdered, like Satyendra Kumar Dubey. That the whistleblowers are victimised is fact, and even courts have taken

judicial notice of this in various cases. The Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2011 enacted by Parliament, has not been implemented by the government of the day that came to power especially on crusade against corruption, on the ground that some provisions thereof need to be amended. However, nothing has been done by it, despite having assured the apex court in 2017. These facts speak in volumes about ground realities. Let's hope the petition filed by us would bring some relief to the whistleblowers," Panchal said.

Dubey was an engineer with the National Highways Authority of India, and a whistleblower who had exposed corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral highway project. He was murdered in 2003.