WHISTLE BLOWING AND WHISTLEBLOWER

PROTECTION BILL IN INDIA

Arathi Sivaram
Research Scholar
DCMS, University of Calicut

Dr. Satheesh E.K

Professor , DCMS
University of Calicut
WHISTLEBLOWING 
 When a former or the existing employee of the
organization raise his voice against the unethical
activities being carried out within the organization
is called as whistle blowing and the person who
raise his voice is called as a whistle blower.
 The concept of whistle blowing has taken an
important stand in the contemporary world both in
public sector and in private sector and it become
one of the major pillar of corporate governance.
STAGES OF
WHISTLEBLOWING
1. Have evidence
2. Get concrete documentation: your documentation
needs to be on point. A rumor or linking isn’t
enough.
3. Gather records of the locations of incriminating
documents, files, names and contact details of
those involved, and laws you belief were violated.
4. Keep the process confidential. The only person you
should talk to is a trusted attorney.
5. Disclose it with the trusted higher authorities who
can take action against.
 TYPES OF WHISTLE
BLOWINGS
Internal whistle-blowing
Internal whistleblowing is often
the first step for employees who
want to report something
unethical happening inside the
company. They may tell
management about the problem
in hopes that something will
change. By keeping the incident
internal only, the company
avoids bad publicity while it
works to rectify the situation.
www.queensemploymentattorney.com
   External whistle-blowing
When a company discourages
internal whistleblowing, or
retaliates against employees who
do so, they only hurt themselves.
The wronged employee may
notify the press, law enforcement
or other agencies and report the
problem. This is called the
external whistleblowing.
WHISTLE-BLOWERS IN INDIA
SATYENDRA DUBEY, CHIEF ENGINEER NATIONAL
HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA (NHAI)
SHANMUGHAN MANJUNATH INDIAN
OIL CORPORATION (IOC) OFFICER
 WHY DOES SOMEONE NEED PROTECTION
FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH?
Most often, the employees fear to raise a voice
against the illegal activity being carried out in the
organization because of following reasons:
 Threat to life
 Lost jobs and careers
 Lost friendships
 Resentment among workers
 Breach of trust and loyalty

Thus, in order to provide protection to the whistle

blowers, the Whistle Blower Protection Bill is
passed by Lok Sabha.
https://businessjargons.com/
WHISTLE BLOWER PROTECTION
(AMENDED) BILL 2015
Introduced in passed in
lok sabha lok sabha

May 11, 2015 May 13, 2015

 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BILL
 The Bill amends the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014. 
 
 The Act provides a mechanism for receiving and inquiring into public interest
disclosures against acts of corruption, willful misuse of power or discretion, or
criminal offenses by public servants.
 The Bill prohibits the reporting of a corruption-related disclosure if it falls under
any 10 categories of information.
 
 These categories include information related to (i) economic, scientific interests
and, the security of India; (ii) Cabinet proceedings, (iii) intellectual property; (iv)
that received in a fiduciary capacity, etc.
 
 The Act permits disclosures that are prohibited under the Official Secrets Act
(OSA), 1923. The Bill reverses this to disallow disclosures that are covered by the
OSA.
 
 Any public interest disclosure received by a Competent Authority will be referred to
a government authorised authority if it falls under any of the above 10 prohibited
categories. This authority will take a decision on the matter, which will be binding.

https://simplifiedupsc.in/ https://prsindia.org/
COMPARISON WHISTLEBLOWERS PROTECTION
ACT, 2014 WITH THE AMENDMENT BILL, 2015
Whistleblowers Whistleblowers Protection
Protection Act, 2014 (Amendment) Bill, 2015
Applicability of Disclosures can be made Disclosures cannot be made
the Official under the Act even if they under the Bill, if it is
Secrets are prohibited under the prohibited under the OSA.
Act(OSA), 1923 OSA.
[The OSA prevents
documenting or
communicating any
information, etc., if it
violates national security.]

Procedure to determine prohibited
disclosures
Issues that may not be revealed
during an inquiry into a whistle
blowing complaint
Whistleblowers
Protection Act, 2014
Not applicable, as the Act does not
prohibit any type of information
from being disclosed.
Once a whistleblowing complaint is
admitted, and is being inquired into,
no person is required to provide any
information if it falls under five
categories.
These categories include: i) security
of India, ii) foreign relations; iii)
public order and morality; iv)
contempt of court; defamation,
incitement to an offence; and v)
Cabinet proceedings.
Whistleblowers
Protection
(Amendment) Bill, 2015
Once a disclosure is made, the
competent authority will refer it to
a government authorised authority.
This government authority will take
the final decision on whether the
disclosure is prohibited.
The five categories are replaced
with the above 10 categories of
information.
 Whistleblowers
Protection Act, 2014
Disclosure of information Disclosures may be made on any act of
corruption, abuse of power or discretion, or
criminal offence by a public servant.
https://simplifiedupsc.in/
Whistleblowers
Protection (Amendment)
Bill, 2015
A disclosure is prohibited if it contains
information related to:
i)   The sovereignty, strategic, scientific or
economic interests of India, or the
incitement of an offence;
ii)   Records of deliberations of the Council
of Ministers;
iii)   That which is forbidden to be
published by a court or if it may result in
contempt of court;
iv)   A breach of privilege of legislatures;
v)  Commercial confidence, trade secrets,
intellectual property (if it harms a third
party);
vi)   That relayed in a fiduciary capacity;
vii)  That received from a foreign
government;
viii)  That which could endanger a person’s
safety etc.;
ix)   That which would impede an
investigation etc.;
x)   Personal matters or invasion of privacy.
However, if information related to (ii), (v),
(vi), and (x) is available under the Right to
Information Act, 2005, then it can be
disclosed under the Bill.
SHOULDN’T THE BILL BE EXTENDED
IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR AS WELL??

https://counterview.org/
 NEED OF EXTENSION OF THE
BILL TO PRIVATE SECTOR
•The corruption or illegal practices not only affects the economy
of the country but also affects the human resources.
•It deteriorates the protection of rights, ethics and hence overall
efficiency.
•According to survey conducted by Transparent International,
India is at 94th position in the Transparent International’s
Corruption Perception Index. More than 60% of the employees
have an experience of influencing others to get the work done.
•The private companies are secretly involved with different kinds
of agencies and organisations without caring about the
economic growth but their growth.
•Ethical people who wish to reveal the malpractices of the private
bodies but they are unable to do so due to unrefined and
incomplete whistle blower protection act.
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 HOW WILL THE PRIVATE
SECTOR BE BENEFITTED?
•It gives the right of being equal and gives freedom
of information.
•It brings in justice and fairness.
•It also protects employee and consumer health.
•It serves as a check on seniors members.
•It makes the employees more comfortable and they
feel free and independent to raise their issues.
•It saves life hence this act is right to be
implemented.

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CONCLUSION
 In the purview of this discussion there are questions
posed at large on a person’s morality and honesty
and the repercussions that follows the fate of the
whistle blowers. Hence, once again it is to be asked
that does it suffice to extend protection to whistle
blowers in public sector while denying the same to
those in private sector and leaving them in a
precarious state? Thus, there is indeed a need to
make the bill robust by extending it to the private
sector so that the whistle blowers in the private
sector have the same sense of security as is
possessed by the ones in the public sector.
THANK YOU