Federal Ombudsman launches mechanism for speedy disposal of cases

ISLAMABAD: Federal Ombudsman Salman Faruqui on Thursday launched complaint redress mechanism in 181 federal ministries, departments and government agencies in the presence of scores of senior officials of the government at Pakistan Secretariat.

Every department has nominated focal person designated as grievance liaison officer (GLO) for entertaining and resolving complaints relating to his department who will be responsible for resolving a matter within 15 days.

Addressing the focal persons appointed by their respective departments, Salman Faruqui said that the idea behind launching the mechanism is to install an in house institutional system for redress of grievances and thereby improve the governance status of the departments. He said that self-accountability of public administration institutions in developed countries was an integral part of their democratic system. He said that it was our collective responsibility to address maladministration, increase efficiency and bring transparency in the operation of the government machinery.

The Federal Ombudsman said that that accessibility to the complainants as grievance officer of respective agency could make a great difference, adding that it is the foremost duty of a government functionary to serve the public and satisfy the citizens. He said that in this era of globalisation, nations are closely watched by international community, especially in the context of human rights violations, therefore, he said we must commit ourselves to work hard to improve our image in the comity of nations. The Ombudsman also gave an overview of the working of the Institution of Ombudsman.

On the occasion chairman of National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) Justice (R) Ali Nawaz Chauhan in his address said that Salman Faruqui has taken the institution of Ombudsman to new heights and the Institution was resolving public complaints with an exceptional commitment. He said, delay in administrative decisions by government agencies result in maladministration and denial of rights to the common citizens. Under such circumstances, he said it is the institution of Ombudsman which is rendering help to the suffering citizens. He said that dispensation of justice is essential for the promotion of civilisation and social values of a society. Justice (R) Chauhan said that the institution of Ombudsman in Pakistan is poised to play much bigger role in future in providing relief to people against maladministration and thereby protecting their fundamental rights. Secretary Law and Justice Division Sarwar Khan praised the role of Ombudsman in resolving common man’s problems.

Under the newly introduced complaint redress mechanism, departments have established their complaints resolution cells and appointed deputy secretary level focal persons for resolution of complaints within 15 days. All the cells set up in government departments would be connected with the complaint management information system (CMIS) of Federal Ombudsman Secretariat.

In case a complaint is not resolved within the given time, the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat would intervene for citizens’ facilitation. This initiative would make the federal government departments to resolve public complaints within the given time limit. Earlier Ehsan Ahmed Khokhar, Senior Advisor (Law) and Grievance Commissioner for overseas Pakistanis made a presentation highlighting the working of the Ombudsman Secretariat. Certificates were distributed amongst the focal persons on their appointments as grievance officers of their respective departments.