India has made immense progress by formulating new laws, rules, and regulations which helps in running this country smoothly. One such law is for the protection of Whistle-blowers in India. What happens when someone encounters something unlawful and wants to raise voice against it? That is precisely what we aim to discuss through this article.
Meaning of Whistle-Blower
To explain in simple language, the whistleblower is any person who exposes the information relating to any fraud, corruption, unlawful activities. A whistleblower is an informer of anything illegal to the competent authorities. This can be in a company exposing these malpractices or for general society. Whistleblowers are essential elements of the community which ensures that functions are being carried out in accordance with the law and order of the country. Many of the big scams and frauds in significant organizations have been unearthed due to whistleblowing practices.
Types of Whistle-Blower
Largely, whistleblowers can be distinguished as per following in various kinds.
- Internal- This is when the whistleblower reports the wrongdoing to the authorities within the organization.
- External- This is when the whistleblower reports the wrongdoing to the people outside the organization such as news channels, press, enforcement agencies, etc.
- Government- This is when the whistleblower reports to the government about the ill practices and wrongdoing of an organization.
- Corporate- When a business corporations wrongdoing is brought to light, it is said to be corporate whistleblowing.
- Alumni- When the whistleblower is a former employee of the organization, they are called Alumni whistle-blowers.
- Personal- Where the wrongdoing in an organization is aimed to harm one person, and it is informed, it is personal whistleblowing.
- Impersonal- When the wrongdoing which is informed is aimed at harming others it is called impersonal whistleblowing.
Laws related to Whistle-Blower
The large corporations and organizations understand the importance of the act of whistleblowing and hence are taking drastic steps to safeguard the whistleblowers.
The Companies Act 2013
Owing to some significant scandals in private and public organizations, The Companies Act lays down detailed guidelines for inquiry, investigation, and inspection. It all is detailed in a chapter from section 206 to 229.
SEBI
SEBI is the regulatory body managing public limited companies in India. To improve the quality of corporate governance, SEBI introduced clause 49 which gives guidelines for forming whistleblower policy for the companies. It is a mandate to form this policy and also compulsory to disclose reported, pending and resolved issues.
Whistle-blower Protection Act, 2014
The parliament of India passed an act known as the Whistle-blower Protection Act, 2014 which safeguards the whistle-blowers that bring to light any wrongdoing by public servants and government bodies. The act vides its section 4 allows any public servant or non-governmental organization to make a public interest disclosure to the competent authorities. The competent authorities also have the power to arrange for the security of such whistle-blowers and the power to direct authorities to avoid their victimization.
The Fifth chapter of the Act lays down the provisions which protect the whistle-blowers against victimization due to disclosure of relevant facts and information and also states that a competent authority may on receipt of application regarding victimization or its apprehension, direct the concerned public authority to protect and prevent victimization. Protection is also given to the complainant, public servant, witnesses and other persons who render assistance in the inquiry under section 11.
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