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IFS Sanjeev Chaturvedi moves SC seeking framework to protect whistleblowers
IFS Sanjeev Chaturvedi moves SC seeking framework to protect whistleblowers
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New Delhi, Magsaysay Award winner and whistleblower Indian Forest Service officer Sanjeev Chaturvedi has moved the Supreme Court seeking protection of whistleblowers and appropriate guidelines to bridge the constitutional and "statutory vacuum" that has been caused by the non-operationalisation of a 2014 law.
Chaturvedi, who has exposed some corruption cases in the past and is facing several cases by private persons and action by different governments, said in his plea filed in a pending petition that this continuity of institutional persecution in the absence of any protective framework is not an exceptional case; it is the systemic norm.
"The absence of the Whistleblowers Protection Act's operational framework means there is no single institutional mechanism to which a whistleblower in the petitioner's position can turn for protection, and no authority charged with the specific task of preventing and investigating retaliation," he submitted.
"This structural vacuum is the condition that enables the petitioner's persecutors to act with impunity, and it will continue to enable such persecution indefinitely unless this court intervenes," he submitted.
The senior IFS officer said the present application, while filed by an individual petitioner, raises a constitutional/systematic issue of nationwide importance that affects every public servant and citizen who has made, or may make, a public interest disclosure.
The relief sought is not merely personal; it is systemic, he said and sought to enlarge and expand the scope of the present writ petition to convert into redressal of an issue of constitutional importance: the failure on the part of the Centre to operationalise the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014, which has remained a "dead letter" for over a decade despite being enacted by Parliament in 2014, resulting in incessant misery of the petitioner and many other similarly placed whistleblowers.
He also sought the court's intervention under Article 142 of the Constitution to frame and issue an appropriate interim Whistleblowers Protection Framework/ guidelines to bridge the constitutional and statutory vacuum that has been allowed to persist, leaving whistleblowers across India entirely without statutory protection.
"The inaction of the executive is not merely a policy failure- it is a constitutionally impermissible abdication of a statutory obligation that strikes at the foundational rights of whistleblowers as well as citizens guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, creates a nationwide chilling effect on anti-corruption disclosures, undermines the very rule of law, which this court has consistently sought to fortify and continues to keep the lives of whistleblowers under tenterhooks," he said.
Referring to repetitive actions against him, Chaturvedi said it underlines the need for robust institutional protection for whistleblowers in India, as only name and faces of perpetrators of corruption changes and nothing else, and hence urgent need for effective protection mechanism for whistleblowers, which is completely lacking at this moment.
Giving details of the enactment, he said the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014 was notified on May 12, 2014, after being passed by Parliament. However, in terms of provision of sub-section of section 1 of the Act, the provisions of the Act had to come into force on such date as the Central government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, may fix.
"No such notification has been made by the Central government on the grounds 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," his plea said.
It said to make these amendments to the Act, the Centre introduced the Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, 2015 in the Lok Sabha on May 11, 2015, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on May 13, 2015 and transmitted to the Rajya Sabha.
"The Bill has since lapsed upon the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. Since then, the government has taken no legislative initiative whatsoever to re-introduce the Bill or to enact the requisite amendments, nor has the government considered bringing the existing Act into force even without the proposed amendments, and prescribing appropriate rules to address the purported concerns, with the result that the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014, is still non-operational/dysfunctional," his plea said.
He said despite the rising tide of corruption, whistleblowers in India face numerous challenges, including retaliation and hostility from the organisations/departments or individuals they expose, including threats to life and livelihood, institutional barriers, and a lack of anonymity in reporting mechanisms.
"As India continues to position itself as a global economic powerhouse, strengthened whistleblower protection mechanisms are imperative and could be a critical step toward combating the malaise of corruption," he submitted.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
