Satyendra Dubey Case Study

By:-Harsimran Kaur

RELEVANT FACTS Satyendra Kumar Dubey (1973 -

27 November 2003) was a project director at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

He was managing the Golden Quadrilateral, dream project of then Prime Minister.

He was the first person in his village to go to IIT Kanpur.

Corruption in GQ project became rampant, unskilled labour and substandard materials were in place.

Dubey sent a letter to Prime Minister and the concerned ministry revealing the corruption

No protection was provided inspite of death threats.

He was murdered in Gaya, Bihar after fighting corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral highway construction project.

The murder suspects were arrested but they escaped

His death lead to huge protests in the country

In March 2006, a Whistleblower bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha.

WHISTLEBLOWER BILL 2010

The Whistleblowers Protection bill has been passed by the Union Cabinet on August 9, 2010. The bill is officially known as the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosure Bill, 2010.

KEY FEATURES It will protect the whistleblowers from any

discrimination or victimization in their workplace.

It provides for concealing the identity of a citizen who discloses information about the misuse of power and money. Those who reveal the identity of the whistleblower will be held liable and penalized, by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

The offenders will be liable for imprisonment up to 3 years and a fine up to Rs.50, 000.

There will be penalization in case of delays in response, under the Right to Information Act. A fine of Rs.250 will be imposed for every day of delay beyond the set deadline.

There will be penalization for officials who try to mislead the CVC.

The bill provides for addressing complaints against public sector employees and employees of the Central and the State Government.

The bill also ensures the honest government officials are not harassed in anyway but those individuals who file false complaints and charges will be liable for imprisonment up to 2 years and fine up to Rs.30, 000.

OTHER CASES Right to Information (RTI) activist  Amit Jethwa was

murdered for exposing illegal mining in Gir Sanctuary in Gujarat allegedly by a ruling BJP MLA and his family.

Jayaraman, 31, an employee in the examination department of Pondicherry University was found strangled to death in his farm as he had formally filed a complaint to university authorities that middlemen, with the connivance of university officials, were involved in large-scale tampering of answer papers and mark sheets in MBBS exam.

V Saseendran, former company secretary of state run(Kerala) Malabar Cements, who was found dead along with his two young boys on January 24 inside his house at Palakkd as he raised voice against irregularities and corruption in Malabar Cements.

VIJAY BHADUR SINGH Observed that manipulation was being committed by

senior officers of the Finance Ministry and Senior Counsel. The email was forwarded, resulting in an issuance of memorandum to him by Commissioner of Customs (Exports), Mumbai. His brother was killed in a road accident on 6 April 2003 after he submitted a reply to the memorandum. Singh had the Navleen Kumar Award conferred on him in 2004 by PCGT for working towards a corruption free society. He has since been victmized by senior officers of Customs and two charge sheets have been issued to him. He has opted for voluntary retirement from service in order to further expose corruption in the department.

LEARNINGS

Identity whistle blowing whistle should be kept secret

Proper security should be asked and ensured

Smart and intelligent steps are required to change the system

It should be with as much specific factual information possible (report what you know, but don’t investigate—leave that to the experts!)