Legislation to protect whistle blowers to be introduced in winter session: Moily

New Delhi, Sep 13 (ANI): Union Minister of Law and Justice Veerappa Moily on Monday said a path breaking legislation to protect whistleblowers will be introduced during the winter session of Parliament.

Addressing the fifth annual Right to Information (RTI) convention here, Moily said confidentiality of the whistleblowers should be protected.

" Whistle blowers' Bill giving protection to civil servants and raising issues of corruption has been finalised and will become a law soon," he added.

Lauding the role of the central information commission, he said the RTI should build a bridge between the people and the government.

Describing the Right to Information Act as a great initiative by the UPA government, Moily hoped it would be effectively used to drive out corruption from society.

He further said the RTI should not become the casualty of corrupt bureaucrats and others. It is quite disturbing to hear the threat administered to RTI activists."

"There are instances of attacks on RTI activists. These attacks and killings have to be taken seriously, dealt with iron hands," he added.

Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah expressed hope that the RTI is all set for success.

"It will take the country a great leap forward. It has captured the imagination of the people," he said.

The two-day convention will have five technical sessions covering major aspects of RTI.

The various sessions will deliberate on issues such as: RTI and Public Private Partnership (PPP) Projects, Responsibility of Political Leadership in promoting RTI, RTI and Judiciary, Challenges and Opportunities in RTI - Role and Responsibility of Media/Civil Society Organisations, RTI and Unique Identification Project- Possibilities.

The "Resonance of Information" was first of its kind brought on the occasion of National Convention on RTI in 2006 and the present monograph the second in series. The monograph documents the report and recommendations of two of the conventions of this Commission.

Five years of implementation of RTI Act brought forth many issues both of challenges and opportunities.

The Commission desired to discuss those opportunities and challenges at great length. The theme has thus been so decided. The deliberations of each of the technical sessions are aimed at bringing about the insight on the current issues of the Act and its mapping to the theory and practices of the Right to information in regard to two emerging aspects of public governance, the Public Private Partnership and the UIDIA.

The Central Information Commission has strength of 9 Information Commissioners including the Chief Information Commissioner. In recent times the Commission has made a significant impact regarding disclosure of information in various areas of governance. (ANI)