A law designed to protect citizens who expose corruption remains unenacted nearly a decade after parliament passed it, with minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions Jitendra Singh telling the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that amendments to the law are not part of the current session’s agenda.
The Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014, which parliament passed in February that year under the UPA II regime, enables any person to report corruption, wilful misuse of power, or criminal offences by public servants, including ministers, MPs, judges, regulatory authorities and government employees. Under the law, these complaints would be handled by a designated authority who must conduct discreet inquiries while protecting identities of complainants.
However, the law was never implemented. In December 2014, Singh explained to Rajya Sabha that crucial amendments “aimed at safeguarding against disclosures affecting sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the State” couldn’t be moved as the bill was taken up on the last day of the 15th Lok Sabha earlier that year.
“No such notification has been made by the Government for the reason that the Act requires amendments aimed at safeguarding against disclosures affecting sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the State, etc, before it is brought into force,” Singh reiterated in his latest response on Wednesday.
The government tried addressing these concerns through the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015, which Lok Sabha passed in May 2015. However, the bill lapsed when the 16th Lok Sabha was dissolved in 2019.
{{/usCountry}}The government tried addressing these concerns through the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015, which Lok Sabha passed in May 2015. However, the bill lapsed when the 16th Lok Sabha was dissolved in 2019.
{{/usCountry}}Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative director Venkatesh Nayak explained bills introduced in Lok Sabha lapse upon the house’s dissolution, while Rajya Sabha bills remain alive unless withdrawn or passed since the upper house cannot be dissolved.
According to data Singh shared on Wednesday, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), designated to handle whistleblower complaints, received 2,011 complaints from whistleblowers until October 31 this year, including 63 from 2023. All have been disposed. The CVC disposed 1,967 of 2,030 complaints in 2023; 1,887 of 1,907 in 2022; 1,052 of 1,057 in 2021; 520 of 555 in 2020; and 824 of 899 in 2019. The number of complaints handled between 2019 and 2024 have more than doubled.
In his 2014 response to MP D Raja, Singh had noted that while media reported attacks on RTI activists and whistleblowers, the CVC received only two harassment complaints between May and September 2014.
Nayak, who is co-convenor of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, said the UPA government introduced the law responding to anti-corruption protests during its second term. While the related Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 took effect in January 2014, the Whistle Blowers Act cleared both houses only in February 2014 before it entered into the legislative limbo.
The original 2014 law faced opposition over national security concerns. When the bill first passed Lok Sabha, amendments were proposed in Rajya Sabha to prohibit disclosures related to national security and cabinet papers. However, these couldn’t be incorporated as the bill was discussed on the last day of the 15th Lok Sabha.
The NDA government’s 2015 amendments went further, Nayak said. “They were very poorly thought out” as they converted all ten RTI Act exemptions into reasons prohibiting whistleblower disclosures. “It was not just limited to national security; it was everything, including privacy. This meant that if anyone were to blow the whistle on any of these issues, then the competent authority, that is the CVC at the Centre and any other similar agency at the state level will not be empowered to inquire into it,” he explained.
While the 2014 Act allowed disclosures even if prohibited under the Official Secrets Act, the 2015 amendments didn’t. They also sought to bar officials, citizens or NGOs from whistleblowing on matters including legislative privilege, trade secrets, intellectual property, and information from foreign governments.