The term “whistle-blowing” originates from the practice of British policemen who blew their whistles whenever they observed commission of a crime.
Whistle blowing means calling the attention of the top management to some wrongdoing occurring within an organization.
A whistle blower may be an employee, former employee or member of an organisation, a government agency, who have willingness to take corrective action on the misconduct.
As per Sec.177 of the Companies Act, 2013, certain companies have to establish Vigil/Whistle-blowing mechanism to report any unethical behavior or other concerns to the management.
According to the Companies Act, 2013 & Rules, 2014
It is mandatory for:
Companies which are required to constitute an audit committee shall operate the vigil mechanism through the audit committee and if any of the members
of the committee have a conflict of interest in a given case, they should recuse themselves and the others on the committee would deal with the matter on hand.
For other companies, the Board of directors shall nominate a director to play the role of audit committee for the purpose of vigil mechanism to
whom other directors and employees may report their concerns.
It provide adequate safeguards against victimization of employees and directors who avail of the Vigil
mechanism and also provide for direct access to the chairperson of the Audit committee or the director nominated to play the role of audit committee,
as the case may be, in exceptional cases.
A Whistle Blower may be within the organization who discloses any illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices to the employer. He/she may be-
A whistle Blower may be outside the organization who discloses any illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices to the company. He/she may be-
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