whistleblowing and whistleblower protection act

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WHISTLEBLOWING AND WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ACT MANVENDRA P.S. BISHT - 140201073 MAYAN TANEJA - 140201074 MAYANK GUPTA - 140201075 MAYANK JAIN - 140201076 MAYANK SITLANI - 140201077 MOHD MOHTASHIM - 140201078 SECTION: B GROUP : 3

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Page 1: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

WHISTLEBLOWING AND

WHISTLEBLOWER

PROTECTION ACT

MANVENDRA P.S. BISHT - 140201073 MAYAN TANEJA - 140201074 MAYANK GUPTA - 140201075 MAYANK JAIN - 140201076 MAYANK SITLANI - 140201077 MOHD MOHTASHIM - 140201078

SECTION: B GROUP : 3

Page 2: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

WHISTLEBLOWING

Whistleblowing refers to the unauthorized disclosure of the

unethical, illegal or corrupt practices by an employee to protect the

public interest.

The concept of whistleblowing has taken an important stand in the

contemporary world both in public sector and in private sector.

Page 3: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

STAGES OF WHISTLEBLOWING

INCIDENT

• Stage One – Is There a Potential Whistle Blowing Scenario ?

• Stage Two – Seriousness Test

• Stage Three – Reality Check

• Stage Four – Becoming Aware of the Big Picture

• Stage Five – Forcing Management Recognition of the Problem

• Stage Six – Taking the Problem to Upper Management

• Stage Seven – Going Outside the Organization

• Stage Eight – Living with The Results

Page 4: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

CONDITIONS FOR WHISTLEBLOWING

Richard T. De George

Three conditions that must hold for

whistleblowing to be morally permissible and two

additional conditions that must hold for it to be

morally obligatory.

Page 5: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

CONDITIONS FOR WHISTLEBLOWING

CONDITION 1

• The firm is liable to cause serious harm to the public that can be mediated both by its product or its policy, whether an innocent bystander who is basically the person of the user of its product, or the general public

CONDITION 2

• As soon as the employee identifies a serious threat to the product user or to the general public at large, the employee should report it to his immediate superior and make his moral concern known to his senior. The act of Whistle blowing is not justifiable unless it is done.

CONDITION 3

• If the superior takes no action, the employee should take the matter to the higher superiors and if possible to the board of directors.

Page 6: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

CONDITIONS FOR WHISTLEBLOWING

ADDITIONAL CONDITION 1

• Whistle-blower must have a proper evidence to justify his case and convince the authority or the general public that the organization’s product or policy poses a serious threat to the product user or to the general public.

ADDITIONAL CONDITION 2

• The employee must understand that necessary changes may be brought about, by him going to the public. The chance of being successful must be worth the risk one takes and danger to which one is exposed.

Page 7: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

WHISTLE-BLOWERS IN INDIA

Satyendra Dubey, chief engineer

National Highways Authority of

India (NHAI)

Shanmughan Manjunath

Indian Oil Corporation Officer

Page 8: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

Why does someone need protection for

speaking the truth?

Are we ruled by corruption?

Page 9: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

ETHICAL DILEMMAS FACED BY A

WHISTLEBLOWER

Page 10: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

ETHICAL DILEMMAS OF WHISTLE BLOWER

•Supervisors or the managers feel that the decision making process of the company gets affected with the interruption of the lower level management tattling upon with whistle blowing.

•Due to this many employees refrain from speaking up to avoid the conflict with the upper management.

•The employee also feels the fear of losing the job

Supervisors’ Condemnation

•To avoid losing the trust of the co-workers, the employee refrains from whistle blowing, which could harm his own reputation among his colleagues and as there is a regular communication between the employees in the company.

•Many employees avoid whistle blowing to maintain loyalty and trust with the co-workers.

Colleagues’ Condemnation

•The ethical dilemma of whistle blowing depends on the fact that how loyal a person feels for his company.

•If the person feels vote less or disoriented, the chances of him being the whistle blower increases and if he considers himself as an important member of the company and understands the responsibility, does not speak up against the company.

Loyalty to the company

•No employee would like to wrongly accuse his company or any of the higher authorities of his company of the felony and thus does the double check on the evidence he has as this could affect his credibility.

•He has more chances of coming up if he has the justifiable reason or the evidence.

Evidence against the

felon

Page 11: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

WHISTLE BLOWER PROTECTION ACT, INDIA

Page 12: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

WHISTLE BLOWERS PROTECTION ACT

Definition- Under the Constitution of India

“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.”

Page 13: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BILL

• The provisions of the act may not apply to-

Jammu and Kashmir

Armed forces of the union, being the special protection group constitute

under the special group act, 1988.

• The aim of the bill is to protect the whistle blowers that make a public

interest disclosure. The PID can be made in act of –

Power misused

Corruption

Criminal offence by a Public servant

• The PID must be in writing or electronic mail and in accordance with the

procedure defined.

Page 14: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BILL

• The PID may be made to the competent authority as defined by the bill.

• Then the enquiry is made by the competent authority without revealing

the identity of the whistle blower and verifies his/her facts.

• The competent authority has the authority to ask documents from any

person who shall be able to furnish any useful information.

• The whistle blower if is being victimized or likely to be victimized he may

file an application to the competent authority to look into the matter and

protect him/her.

• The bill penalizes the person who make a PID and the PID is deemed to be

mala fidelity and knowingly that it was incorrect shall be punishable with

imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years and a fine extended

to 50,000 INR.

Page 15: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

GUIDELINES ON WHISTLEBLOWING

Page 16: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

GUIDELINES SET BY INTERNATIONAL

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

Enterprises are encouraged to establish, within their Organization

and as an integral part of their integrity programme, a

whistleblowing system, commensurate with their size and

resources.

• The International Chamber of Commerce has given some

guidelines on whistleblowing.

• The ICC guidelines help companies to establish and implement

whistle blowing programs.

• There are guidelines are based on broad experience of ICC

Member companies ranging across various sectors.

Page 17: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

GUIDELINES SET BY INTERNATIONAL

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

Such whistleblowing system should aim to:

• answer, in full confidentiality, all reasonable requests for

advice and guidance on business conduct matters and ethical concerns

raised by the employees of the enterprise and of its subsidiaries or

affiliates and by any of the group’s agents, suppliers and customers; and

to;

• receive and handle, at the earliest stage possible, all reports

made about any occurrence, whether established or soundly suspected,

of a breach of applicable laws and regulations, the enterprise’s code of

conduct or the ICC Combating Extortion and Bribery Rules of Conduct

and Recommendations, which could seriously harm the enterprise or the

group, if no remedial action is taken.

Page 18: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

GUIDELINES SET BY INTERNATIONAL

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

A whistleblowing system, being part and parcel of the enterprises’

voluntary integrity programs, will only be successful if it is not

over-regulated from the outside. Enterprises, however, should be

aware that, in certain jurisdictions and cultural environments and

because of data protection and labour law concerns, legal restrictions

have been imposed on whistleblowing procedures, which they will

have to comply with.

Page 19: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

GUIDELINES SET BY INTERNATIONAL

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

Each individual enterprise may decide, taking into account the

applicable law of every country, in which a whistleblowing system

will be put into place. In deciding to opt for an anonymous

whistleblowing system, a company may take into account its cultural

environment, as well as issues relating to the protection of privacy

and the risk of unfair reporting. If an enterprise considers that

reporting is made on a voluntary basis, its employees may opt to

report a serious occurrence under any other internal or external

procedure available.

Page 20: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

GUIDELINES SET BY INTERNATIONAL

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

All whistle blowers’ reports should be diligently acknowledged,

recorded and screened. If there is abuse of the process, disciplinary

action can be envisaged. As soon as reasonably possible, the main

results of the due diligence examination should be appropriately

communicated as feedback to the whistle blower. The person whose

behaviour has been reported, should also be informed of the main

object of the ongoing procedure, thereby allowing this person to

present objections.

Page 21: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

GUIDELINES SET BY INTERNATIONAL

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

All employees should be in a position to report serious occurrences

without fear of retaliation or of discriminatory or disciplinary

action. Therefore, the whistle blower’s employment, remuneration

and career opportunities should be protected by the enterprise

during a reasonable period of time.

Page 22: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

SHOULDN’T THE BILL BE EXTENDED IN

THE PRIVATE SECTOR AS WELL??

Page 23: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

NEED FOR THE BILL

• The corruption or illegal practices not only affects the economy of the

country but also affects the human resources.

• It deteriorates the protection of rights, ethics and hence overall efficiency.

• According to survey conducted by Transparent International, India is at

94th position in the Transparent International’s Corruption Perception

Index. More than 60% of the employees have an experience of influencing

others to get the work done.

• The private companies are secretly involved with different kinds of

agencies and organisations without caring about the economic growth but

their growth.

• Ethical people who wish to reveal the malpractices of the private bodies

but they are unable to do so due to unrefined and incomplete whistle

blower protection act.

Page 24: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

HOW WILL THE PRIVATE SECTOR BE

BENEFITTED?

• It gives the right of being equal and gives freedom of information.

• It brings in justice and fairness.

• It also protects employee and consumer health.

• It serves as a check on seniors members.

• It makes the employees more comfortable and they feel free and

independent to raise their issues.

• It saves life hence this act is right

to be implemented.

Page 25: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

CONCLUSION…

In the purview of this discussion there are questions posed at

large on a person’s morality and honesty and the repercussions

that follows the fate of the whistle blowers. Hence, once again

it is to be asked that does it suffice to extend protection to

whistle blowers in public sector while denying the same to

those in private sector and leaving the in a precarious state?

Thus, there is indeed a need to make the bill robust by

extending it to the private sector so that the whistle blowers in

the private sector have the same sense of security as is

possessed by the ones in the public sector.

Page 26: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

THE FINAL PICTURE..

Page 27: Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Act

THANK YOU