Cabinet approves bill to protect whistleblowers

NEW DELHI: A proposed legislation to protect whistleblowers and provide for severe punishment to those exposing the identity of people disclosing information was approved by the Government today.

The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosure Bill, 2010 provides the Central Vigilance Commission powers of a civil court to hand down harsh penalty to people revealing the identity of whistleblowers, official sources said.

The bill was approved at a meeting of the Union Cabinet.