Cases at KP Ombudsman Secretariat go up by 14pc

PESHAWAR: The Provincial Ombudsman Secretariat has started receiving an increasing number of cases — 14 percent higher compared to the previous month - signifying the public trust in the institution, statistics revealed.

A communication said a meeting chaired by Provincial Ombudsman Syed Jamal Ud Din Shah took stock of the cases received and disposed of by the secretariat.A presentation made said all pending cases of 2022 had been disposed of and now only current cases were being dealt with.

The complaints from Peshawar, Mardan, Charssada, and Lakki Marwat continued to increase, it was observed.Most of the cases related to the Education Department, Health Directorate, Irrigation Department as well as Khyber tribal district.

The presentation said the Implementation Wing of the Secretariat had done well by disposing of a majority of the cases within a few months.The committee headed by Director General Khalid Akbar Khan was scrutinizing the pending cases and departments concerned had been asked for implementation to provide relief to the complainants.

Syed Jamaluddin Shah directed the assistant director (Establishment) to expedite the work to compile the annual report 2023 of the secretariat to be presented to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor. It was added that the report was being finalized and to be sent for printing soon.

He said the Ombudsman Secretariat was established to protect the legitimate rights of the common people by resolving their grievances free of cost.Appreciating the investigation officers’ role in the timely disposal of cases, he urged them to continue taking all cases as per importance and have them decided fairly and impartially.

The ombudsman was all-praise for the Media Cell. He suggested holding seminars for investigation officers and senior staff by engaging resource persons from the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat.