
New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday said that the Central Vigilance Commission was expected to objectively and independently examine the complaints by whistle-blowers against officials and not just act as a post office to forward the complaints to the chief vigilance officer of the department concerned.
"Once they have procedure, they have to follow it" in dealing with the complaints, said a bench of Justice T.S.Thakur, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Prafulla C. Pant pointing out that that CVC can't pass "telegraphic orders".
Saying that the orders passed by the CVC on the complaints by the whistle-blowers has to be a speaking order, the court asked: "What measures you adopt in objectively assessing the complaints."
It further observed that the working of the CVC should be more "effective and transparent".
The court's observations came in the course of the hearing of a PIL by NGO Parivartan seeking protection of the identity of the whistle-blowers including from harassment and discrimination at the hands of those whose acts of misdemeanour they seeks to expose.
"They should come forward if they have problem in manpower and financial resources", the court said as counsel Prashant Bhushan told the court that CVC had just 300 staffers right from the top man to the man at the bottom and suffered both in terms of manpower and financial resources.
Bhushan told the court that given the huge magnitude of the problem, they don't have resources which was effecting their work.
"The Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011 has created an agency which will suffer from twin problem of manpower shortage and financial crunch," he said.
"And justice becomes a casualty," remarked the court as Bhushan said: "It is like courts which don't have adequate funds resulting lack of judges and judicial infrastructure."
"You can kill a body by starving it of funds," he added.
Taking note of the submissions by Bhushan and apparent deficiencies in the working of the act, the court asked him to submit his suggestion to improve its enforcement, as well as to find out if there were similar laws in other countries and their working.
Bhushan will also give suggestions on make effective the supervision of the Central Bureau of Investigation by the CVC. The court gave Bhushan four weeks file his suggestions and three weeks to the central government to respond to them.
While economists around the world are expressing the possibility of a global recession, on the ot
Thirty children fall ill after mid-day meal in Bihar
Patna, Feb 19 (IANS) At least 30 children fell ill Thursday after having their mid-day meal at
The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has taken a major step amid the controversy over objectionab
PM Modi meeting on Himachal disaster There has been an outcry in Himachal Pradesh due to heavy ra
With just two days left until the release of Border 2, Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, and Ahan Shetty
Sharmaji Namkeen Review: Life should be salty, not spicy, Rishi Kapoor taught the world as he went
The film 'Sharmaji Namkeen' has a different place in the films and web series released or release
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has strongly condemned the attack on Israel by Hamas. Trud
Parliament passes motor vehicles bill
New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) Parliament approved the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015 with t
The five-match T20 series between India and England is scheduled to begin from January 22. Before
75 percent attendance is mandatory for board examinees in Central Board of Secondary Education (C