ISLAMABAD: Federal Ombudsman has disposed of 227,920 cases in the last three years with an implementation ratio of over 97 per cent.
The main purpose of Federal Ombudsman is to provide free and speedy justice to poor masses against the mal-administration of federal government departments. The further landmark was achieved by the office of Federal Ombudsman and there is zero pendency of complaints till the end of 2015.
According to the Annual Performance Report of the Federal Ombudsman for the 2015, these complaints also include 75000 complaints pending for some years with the Mohtasib office.
“During first 30 years, the average disposal per year had been 16,583 complaints, while during the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 (Total 227,920), a staggering number of 69,130 complaints per year were disposed of”, mentioned in the report.
Besides, the report said, in the year 2013, the complaints processing time was brought down from months or years to only 60 days by putting in extra efforts and reduced to 45 days in 2015. The latest development in this regard is the disposing of complaints within 15 days through a Swift Complaint Resolution Project launched in January 2016 in 36 districts for disposal of complaints close to the proverbial doorsteps of the complainants.
The appeals’ ratio on Ombudsman’s decision was only 0.37 per cent, while only 10 per cent decisions of Ombudsman had been suspended by the President in appeals, upholding 90 per cent decisions.
According to the Report, apart from addressing individual complaints, the Federal Ombudsman had also constituted several committees of eminent persons from civil society who work voluntarily to study systemic issues in federal government agencies and to suggest remedial measures. These committees members include some prominent names such as Barrister Wasim Sajjad, Dr Asma Jehangir, Senator (R) S M Zafar, Shoaib Sultan Khan and Shams-ul-Mulk.
The respective committees issued reports such as; Report on Measles Outbreak in Pakistan, Report of the Inquiry Committee into the Causes of Delay in Issuance of Machine Readable Passports, Report on the working of Civic Agencies and Capital Development Authority (CDA), Report of the Investigating Committee for Investigation and Suggesting reforms in the Pension System of Pakistan Railways, Report on the Cognizance of Tragic Incident of Death of 57 Persons in Bus-Truck Accident Near Khairpur-Sindh, Report on Public Complaints of Mal-Administration and Deficiencies in Pakistan Post Office Department and Suggested Remedial Measures, Report on Pakistan Railways in regard in regard to Mal-Administration in Settlement of Pension Claims and Allotment of Accommodation to its Employees and Suggested Measures for Improvement, Report on the functioning of National Database and Registration Authority in respect of Faisalabad Region.
Meanwhile, there are various committees that are working on several issues that include Committee on the working of Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) and its Recommendations to Re-structure it for excellence in its services for 6.5 million workforce, Committee on Availability of Life Saving Drugs, Committee to Review the functioning of NADRA and Committee on Measures to facilitate Overseas Pakistanis etc.
The Report further stated that as per the direction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the office of Federal Ombudsman constituted two specialized committees including the Committee on Prisons and the Committee on Police Reforms.
The FATA Grievance Commissioner was available for resolving tribesman’s problems against federal agencies for the first time in country’s history while one-window operation had been started at eight major Pakistani airports to facilitate overseas Pakistanis where the officials of 12 departments concerned remained present round-the-clock to solve the problems of expatriate, the Report said.
