KP govt poised to take lead in enacting whistleblower law

Tackling corruption

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would take lead in the country to enact the whistleblower law in a bid to tackle corruption and corrupt practices and make governance-related issues transparent in public dealings.

“We are going to table and pass the Whistleblowers Protection and Vigilance Bill in the provincial assembly and make it a law,” chief minister’s legal advisor Arif Yousaf told The News.

He said the bill would be another milestone after enactment of the Right to Information law.

He said certain amendments were suggested and would be presented in the next session of the assembly.

The proposed law is aimed at setting up a Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance Commission (WPVC) to encourage public interest disclosures that relate to irregular, illegal or corrupt practices and to protect persons making such disclosures from disadvantageous measures and reward them for making such disclosures.

The proposed Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance bill is comprehensive and exclusively deals with whistleblowers’ protection. It defines a “whistleblower” as a person or an agency who disclose the public interest information under this law.

“It is proposed that if it has been proved after inquiry that a whistleblower has rightly disclosed the violation of public interest, he shall be rewarded 30 percent of the recovered amount and certificate of appreciation. However, if it surfaced in inquiry that the whistleblower has lodged frivolous or mala fide complaint, he shall be liable to fine of Rs100,000,” says the proposed law.

As per the proposed law, there will be WPVC consisting of three commissioners to be appointed by the government for a period of three years. The bill proposes certain qualification for the commissioner, including that he or she should be a citizen of Pakistan and permanent resident of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is honest and a person with good character, is minimum of 45 years of age, has a bachelor’s degree and at least 15 years experience in the field of law, or professional of high repute from civil society or has remained a public officeholder for at least 20 years, and is not a defaulter of government dues, etc.

The proposed commission will be empowered to initiate an inquiry on information of a whistleblower against any person, department or authority and will put forward recommendations for taking appropriate action against the concerned official if the information provided by the whistleblower proved to be correct.

The bill provides that WPVC shall ensure that no whistleblower is victimised on the ground that this person had made a public interest disclosure or rendered assistance in inquiry under this law. It is proposed that if a whistleblower is being subjected to disadvantageous measures, he/she may file an application before the commission seeking redressal and the commission may pass an appropriate order giving direction to the authority concerned.

The bill also proposes that any person or agency not complying wilfully with the directions of the commission shall be liable to a fine that may extend up to Rs25,000 and two years imprisonment.

In South Asia, Bangladesh was the first country that enacted a comprehensive law on whistleblowers’ protection in 2011. It is called Public Interest Information Disclosure Act 2011.

It was followed by India where the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2011 was passed by the two houses of parliament and received the consent of the president on May 9, 2014.