Thousands hopeful of getting back their hard-earned money

Islamabad

All eyes are on Justice (r) Ijaz Ahmed Chowdhry, the newly appointed  Law Consultant to President Mamnoon Hussain, with thousands of Pakistanis hoping that he would finally help solve a huge backlog of grievances where they have been deprived of their hard-earned money.

There are two types of cases that the Ombudsman Banking (Banking Mohtasib of Pakistan) has ruled in favor of petitioners. But the banks went in appeal to the Presidency and that is where for decades now matters have been stuck with till now no chance of justice to the aggrieved party.

The News has been provided with documents where the Ombudsman Banking has in a signed verdict ruled in favor of petitioners.

The office of Ombudsman Banking was set up to provide good governance in the financial sector, so that public complaints against scheduled banks were investigated through an independent body which is impartial and offers free and prompt service.

Hence, the ombudsman can entertain complaints related to banking malpractices, arbitrary and discriminatory actions, violation of banking laws and regulations and operational inefficiency.

Additionally, in the case of public sector banks, it entertains complaints related to corruption, maladministration and inordinate delays in providing a service.

A Lahore resident Khalid Iqbal Sahi informed The News that he was deprived of nearly Rs1.5 million when the ownership was transferred from Bank Islami to Faysal Bank. Neither bank is willing to pay the amount which was in his account before the bank changed ownership.

Khalid tells The News, “I spent over 40 years abroad and now on return was robbed of my life time savings leaving me empty-handed and living on borrowed money these days. The bank owes me Rs12.5 million along with due mark-up”.

The Banking Mohtasib in his ruling directed the bank to forthwith pay Khalid Sahi. However, at this stage the bank went into appeal to the Law Consultant at the Presidency and along with nearly 4,000 similar cases the matter has been stuck for decades now.

It is now with the appointment of a new Law Consultant at the Presidency that these applicants have reason to hope again.

The other case pertains to those government employees who were working in banks before their privatization. 

Their plea to the Law Consultant is that whenever there is an increase in pension of government employees then they too should benefit from this increment.

The two cases presently at the Presidency pertain to Abdus Sattar Siddiqui and SM Nasim.

Siddiqui speaking to The News says many bank employees had retired as government servants before the banks were privatized so they were receiving pensions like other government servants.

But after privatization, they stopped receiving increments whenever the government of the day announced the same.

Even in this case the bank concerned has moved the Presidency and that is where the matter still lies.

Everywhere banks change ownership as has been happening in Pakistan as well. But nowhere is it acceptable that depositors lose huge amounts because of this change and neither the former or latter bank refuse to return the amount to the depositor.

There are hopes now that a law consultant who has also been a judge of the Supreme Court would abide by the ruling of the Banking Mohtasib and ensure that those simply wanting their own money back receive justice.