The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to expeditiously deal with a petition that demanded a time-limit to probe complaints of corruption filed by whistleblowers under the newly-enacted Whistleblowers Protection Act.
The petition by lawyer N Rajaraman referred to Section 5(2) of the Act that provides a discreet enquiry by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on receipt of any complaint by a whistleblower. However, it does not specify any timeframe for completion of such enquiry.
He argued that by not prescribing a time-limit the enquiry could be delayed excessively to defeat action against corruption. Moreover, it even jeopardised the safety of the whistleblower.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice RM lodha asked the petitioner to suggest if he had knowledge of any instances where enquiry on a complaint took four to six months or beyond it. Rajaraman said that the Act had been notified just three months ago. The Bench then wished to know if any attempt was made to bring this matter to the notice of the executive.
The petitioner admitted that he approached the Court directly. “Having regard to the nature of grievance raised in the petition…we direct the Central Government to expeditiously deal with it” said the bench, also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohington Nariman.