Historical Background –

The first seed to the emergence of CVC was born due to the practice of widespread
corruption within the system during world war 2 , the Act was brought into force at that time
known as Delhi police establishment act 19461 which covered all the UTs and states within its
ambit and it was operated by the ministry of home but the powers of this committee were
restricted only to some special acts . The central board of investigation was set up on the
recommendation of Santhanam committee2 in the year 1963 to probe into the matters of fraud
relating to the government entities , and other issues like password fraud and other major
crimes

SANTHANAM COMMITTEE
The Santhanam committee was formed in year 1962 which brought the reality of these white
collar crimes to the notice and give suggestions on how to tackle this problem. It defines”
corruptions as a mean adopted by public officials to enrich themselves or their close
relatives . It includes both public servants and politicians under its ambit .” This is a
groundwork definition which is adopted in the act to for recognizing the corrupt practices
indulged in by the officials

It said that the main factors which contributes to these crimes is the wide discretion given to
the government officials and the technological advancement which remains unchecked .It
also give several suggestions on how to tackle the problem and how to maintain the check on
corrupted activities of the officials . inquiry commission was set up in the year 1963 on the
working of Dalmia jain companies to check into various tax scams , money laundering cases
and tax evasions , which subsequently led to the formation of the Central Vigilance
Commission . The committee suggested the simplifying the rules and regulations and
streamlined the process3 .

Till the date , the relevance of the committee’s report hasn’t lost its shine and continue to
encourage the confidence of public in the system , the committee ‘s reforms act as a
precedent for the workings of the numerous committees and the committee has played one of
the most vital role in causing an impediment to corruption in bureaucracy.

1
The Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003
2
[Link]
3
Raju, R. V. (2010). Fighting Corruption: How Serious is India? Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies.
[Link]
CENTRAL VIGILANCE COMMISSIONER
CVC is an statutory authority which was made to keep in check the activities of the officials
in the government and takes action on the matters where any administrative wrong is
committed by the employees of government , it keep vigilance over the activities of the
various authorities and also advise various government bodies on how to plan their vigilance
related activities .It releases an annual detailed system where all the corruption related
activities are reported by it with respect to corruption in the governmental agencies . The
main thing to note is that CVC only has supervisory jurisdiction and holds no power to
punish those engaged in corruption activities , it has to refer the case to CBI to punish the
individuals , The functions of CVC are to guide the government or any institution on how to
proceed in the Monetary or financial matters or administrative functions .It directs the CBI on
the proper investigation and to check the progress and ends up guiding the CBI and keeps a
close check on its duties the CVC is chosen by three member committee consisting of Prime
minister , union home minister and the leader of opposition as per section 4 of the CVC act4.
The removal of its members is given in article 65 which says that president has a power to
remove the commissioner or its members in the cases of incapibility to hold a office or due to
case of insolvency or having any additional financial interest or employment for the
corruption practices of the officials

Whistle Blower policy, 2014

The Whistleblower Protection Act 20146 is, therefore, a designed, structured framework
meant to protect the whistleblower and promote transparency and accountability in the
government units. Key Provisions of the Act are:

Complaint Procedure : The Act develops a formal mechanism for receiving complaints
relating to corruption and abuse of power on part of the officials.

Protection against Retaliation: The structure gives safeguards against retaliation or

victimization of whistleblowers for reporting wrongdoings.

4
PANCHU, SRIRAM. “Repairing the Lokpal Bill.” Economic and Political Weekly 47, no. 3 (2012): 10–13.
[Link]
5
[Link] Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003
6
Rahman, K. (2022). Overview of corruption and anti-corruption developments in India. Transparency
International. [Link]
Designated Competent Authorities: The Act provides for specific authorities to whom
disclosures made in public interest have to be made. The competent authority varies with the
nature of the complaint. For example, the Prime Minister is the competent authority to whom
complaints against Union Ministers are to be forwarded.

Identity and Time Limit Requirements: As the identity of the complainant is compulsory, it
rejects anonymous complaints. Complaints are accepted even when made after the elapse of a
maximum period of seven years. The Act excludes certain personnel, for example, members
of the Special Protection Group. A person who feels aggrieved by the order of any authority
can appeal to the High Court within sixty days.

Penalties for breach of confidentiality: The use of information related to the identity of the
whistleblower can land a person into jail for up to three years with a fine up to Rs 50,000.
Knowingly or intentionally furnishing false information may result in imprisonment up to
two years and a fine up to Rs 30,000.

Annual Reporting Requirement: The Competent Authorities shall prepare and submit,
annually to the Central or State Government as the case may be, and presented to either
Parliament or the relevant State Legislature, a report on their activities in pursuance of this
Act. The above provisions collectively strengthen protection for whistleblowers and fortify
accountability across government institutions.

Flaws of Whistle Blower Protection Act 2014

CVC is not an investigation agency , so the functions of investigations is to be outsourced to
the CBI or other investigation agencies . The process of the selection of CVC is being done
by the prime minister , Home minister and the leader of opposition which make the appoint
of CVC to the officers to are loyalists To the government

One of the main flaw of the CVC is non -transparency in the whole process and the
discourage of debates on the government

One of the issue with relating To the acts of CVC is the non coverage of the corporate section
in the bill approved by the cabinet although it was earlier agreed by the government that the
coverage of corporate section is must in the act. The whistleblower bill only gives reference
to corporate under statutory provisions for which the 51% of the stake had to be in the hand
of the government
One of the main idea of the whistleblower bill was to keep the identities of the people
hidden , but the sub section to this act allows the CVC to disclose the identities of the person
which affects the very basis of this law

Another critique of the act is the time frame provided to act on the disclosure , one of the
provisions in the bill states that no case should be acted upon after 12 months have expired
since the complainant came to known about the issue or 5 years after the said act is said to be
committed

Suggestions for correcting the Flaws

Reward for the whistleblowers – There should be reward for the whistleblower after they
report these cases of whistleblowing( like the US government pay one -fourth of the money
involved in the corruption to the whistleblower)7 , it not only would motivate them to come
forward but also expose more no of corruptions which takes place without even get noticed .

Coverage of Defence -Armed forces should be covered under the ambit of the act -there
should be coverage of all the authorities including the armed forces and other intelligence
agencies ,also the excluded organization should be there to protect human violation

Extension of bill to private sector-there is no provision for internal reporting of the acts in the
multinational corporates , so that the truth can be disclosed about the activities which are
taking place unethically behind these organizations

Transparency among the employees – as court are not allowed to take the cases against
CVC , there needs to be the processes of internal transparency within the body which can be
done in various ways , like the declaration should be made by all the employees regarding
their assets and these should be updated annually to keep check on the activities , there
should be a small committee to do the review of all the section in CVC timely and proper
processes should be followed while making the appointment of the committee.8

Non disclosure of the identity of the whistleblower – there should be no disclosure of the
identity of the whistleblower in any case and the sections which require it to be done should
be done away with as it destroys the whole motive of bringing in the act9

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