Increasing corruption in government rank and file has given rise to characters we call whistle-blowers. However, with the bouquets, their valour in raising the veil over misdeeds also earns them one too many brick-bats. Unfortunately, the harassment they are subjected to goes unnoticed more often than not.
In a bid to offer them protection, the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has introduced its very own ‘whistleblower co-operation and protection’ policy.
It may be noted that despite the harassment on whistle-blowers continuing for a few years now, authorities have not implemented any policies to protect them. The Whistleblower Protection Bill, 2010 remains to be passed by Rajya Sabha.
The Gujarat ACB’s policy was framed in January this year and issued to all ACB police stations across the state. According to additional director of ACB, Shamsher Singh, the framework of the policy has been made such as to ensure that no complainant feels cornered or harassed after coming forth to register a complaint with the bureau.
“The procedure of the ACB was such that once a complaint was filed, the focus completely shifted to trapping the accused officer and the proceedings that followed. What was not properly supervised was support to the complainant, as there were no guidelines for the same,” he explained.
According to Singh, this often led to many complainants facing hurdles. “For majority of the complainants, their livelihood depends on the government in some or the other way. In such a scenario, if they are ill-treated, there is no support mechanism for them.” With this in mind as well as to boost co-operation to the complainant, the guidelines for a policy were framed.
Speaking to dna, Singh said: “After registering their complaint, the officers should also ensure that the complainant does not face any vindication from the accused’s department. They should also receive all support, monetary or otherwise, in the course of the proceedings of the case.”
In addition, the guidelines also have a standardised feedback mechanism to ensure that the complainant gets all the benefits of the new policy. This feedback is taken under supervision of the ACB’s respective assistant director for the region to ensure complete transparency, Singh added.
After its state-wide implementation was ordered on January 18 by in-charge ACB director Ashish Bhatia, a complainant, who is a contractor for the Gandhingar panchayat, contacted them. His contract had been cancelled after he complained against an official. “He contacted us and with ACB’s intervention, he was retained by the panchayat for the remainder of his contract. He was also provided interim financial support from the secret service fund, which the ACB maintains for such instances,” Singh said.
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