Parliament Question: Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS (DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL & TRAINING) LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 628 (ANSWERED ON 03.12.2025) WHISTLEBLOWERS PROTECTION ACT, 2014

628. DR. SHARMILA SARKAR:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

(a) the salient features of Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014 and the reasons for the delay in operationalising the same;

(b) whether the Government intends to amend the Whistleblowers Protection Act and if so, the details thereof;

(c) the timeline by which the Government plans to operationalise the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014; and

(d) the details of measures put in place to protect whistleblowers in the interim? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

(a) to (c): The Preamble to the statute reads as, "An Act to establish a mechanism to receive complaints relating to disclosure on any allegation of corruption or wilful misuse of power or wilful misuse of discretion against any public servant and to inquire or cause an inquiry into such disclosure and to provide adequate safeguards against victimisation of the person making such complaint and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto." The Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, 2011 was debated/passed by the Lok Sabha on

27.12.2011 and by the Rajya Sabha on 21.02.2014. It received the assent of the President on the

09.05.2014. The Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014 (No.17 of 2014) was published in the Gazette of India on 12th May 2014. In terms of the provisions under sub-section (3) of section 1 of the Act, the provisions of the Act shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. No such notification has been made by the Government for the reason 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. To make these amendments to the Act, the Government introduced the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in the Lok Sabha on 11th May 2015 which was passed by the Lok Sabha on 13th May 2015 and transmitted to the Rajya Sabha. The Bill has since lapsed upon the dissolution of the Sixteenth Lok Sabha.

(d): The Whistle Blowers’ Protection mechanism presently exists in the form of Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Informers (PIDPI) Resolution, 2004 dated 21.04.2004 and the Central Vigilance Commission has been designated by the Central Government as the Agency to act on complaints from the “whistleblowers”. The Commission has been entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the identity of the complainant confidential.

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