A decade-old PIL by Arvind Kejriwal's NGO Parivartan demands better handling of complaints from whistleblowers and their protection. A decade-old PIL by Arvind Kejriwal's NGO Parivartan demands better handling of complaints from whistleblowers and their protection.

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, who stormed to power in Delhi chiefly on the anti-corruption plank, was in for a surprise gift on Thursday from the Supreme Court which invited suggestions for enabling the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to combat graft in government departments more effectively.

Significantly, the court is also mooting attaching independent investigators under the CVC as it was of the view that central vigilance officers (CVOs) in various government departments, who are to probe graft complaints, have failed and "become mere post offices".

During the hearing of a decade-old PIL filed by Kejriwal's NGO Parivartan, demanding better handling of complaints from whistleblowers and their protection, a bench headed by Justice T.S. Thakur said unless the CVC can adopt a satisfactory transparent and independent procedure, the commission will remain largely toothless.

Justice Thakur observed, "The number of complaints which makes way to the CVC is so phenomenal that we do not think they can function effectively with a staff of 300 or odd. Moreover, they have to carry out a satisfactory and an independent inquiry."

Justice Thakur told lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who represented the NGO, "What is the process followed in other countries? Come up with ideas within four weeks on how to make CVC more credible, transparent and objective. We shall then hand over the suggestions to the CVC and they shall file responses to it."

The court's remarks came when Bhushan argued that making the CVC the nodal agency for protecting whistleblowers and investigating their complaints has been ineffective so far. "CVOs hardly act on complaints forwarded by the CVC. The CVOs belong to the same government department and are to act against some superior officer. The term of a CVO may be for three years and after that he knows he has to work under the same officer.

So, can we expect the CVO to act against him? This is the case in several complaints," Bhushan said, referring to a CVC status report status giving details of action taken so far on complaints of whistleblowers.

"Most of them say the complaint has been probed and nothing has been found, or action is being taken or action will be taken. The system has not just worked. We will need independent investigators under CVC," he told the court.

The PIL was filed by Parivartan subsequent to the killing of Satyendra Dubey, an IIT-Kanpur alumnus who was working as an engineer in the Golden Quadrilateral project of the NHAI when he was shot dead on November 27, 2003. It was believed that he was killed after he alerted the PMO regarding looting of public money and poor implementation of the scheme.



