ISLAMABAD: The Federal Ombudsmen Secretariat received 7,973 complaints against the mal-administration in the Ministry of Housing and Works during the last 18 years.
According to data provided by the Ombudsmen Secretariat out of 7,973 complaints against the Housing Ministry from 1998 to 2016, only 30 cases were pending and decision has been made on the rest of 7,943 complaints.
Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmed Khokhar, Senior Advisor (Law) and Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis informed that the Federal Ombudsmen Secretariat received a very large number of complaints against the maladministration in the Ministry of Housing and Works.
He said that the highest number of complaints was filed in the year 2000 during which 1208 complaints were filed but due to the speedy disposal of complaints not even a single complaint was pending till 2016.
Khokhar said that currently there were only 30 complaints pending with the Mohtasib Secretariat regarding the Housing Ministry and rest were disposed of accordingly. He said that as per the directions of Federal Ombudsmen Salman Faruqui, all out efforts were being made to ensure that no complaint was pending that was older than 45 days.
Hafiz Ahsaan was of the view that the Federal Ombudsmen Secretariat was committed to provide justice and to curb mal-administration in federal government departments as per its mandate.
Highlighting the achievements of Federal Ombudsmen Secretariat, he said, Senior Advisor (Law) and Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis said that first time in the history of the country, one window facilitation desks were established in all the major Pakistani airports for facilitating Overseas Pakistanis travelling to and from Pakistan.
To a question, he said that as per the directions by the Federal Ombudsman Salman Faruqui, 116 Pakistani missions abroad have been directed to fix a day for people to hear their complaints and decide them on the spot.