New Delhi, Aug. 9: The Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill, 2010, will go a long way towards helping those who who make public interest disclosures and will help save innocent lives, officials sources opined.
The bill has provisions to fine and penalise those people who punish and victimise whistleblowers for exposing corruption in the government at any level. The CVC will be the nodal authority to handle complaints against the state, Central government or PSU employees.
According to sources, the CVC will also have powers to punish those making frivolous complaints in accordance with the Bill’s provisions.
The issue of providing protection to whistleblowers caught the attention of the entire nation after the murder of National Highways Authority of India engineer Satyendra Dubey, who had sent a letter to then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee giving an account of corruption in the construction of national highways in Bihar.
The issue had triggered an uproar and the government promised decisive action to protect informants.