whistleblowers protection bill is likely to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday, government sources said Monday.
The legislation, which is one of the important anti-corruption bills, was passed in Lok Sabha during winter session along with the Lokpal bill.
Even as the Lokpal bill went to a select committee, the government tried to introduce the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosure Bill, commonly known as the whistleblowers bill in the upper house during the budget session.
However, the introduction had to be deferred with opposition members seeking more time to study the bill and suggest amendments.
Noting the bill was likely to be brought Tuesday, the sources said Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy also talked to Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley to build an agreement for introducing the bill.
It was, however, not listed in Tuesday’s official list of business till 6 p.m.
The whistleblowers protection bill seeks to protect whistleblowers, i.e. persons making a public interest disclosure related to an act of corruption, misuse of power, or criminal offence by a public servant.
The opposition has, however, expressed concern that since the bill protects all government servants, someone might misuse it to leak information about the security forces.