LAHORE:Federal Ombudsman Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi has appreciated the role of media in sensitizing the functioning of Ombudsman Institution among the general public.
While briefing the Crime and Court Reporters in his office here on Tuesday, the Federal Ombudsman said that the Ombudsman Institution was rendering its services for the poor and backward class. He said that maladministration and bad governance were two sides of the same coin, adding that both bred in an environment of favoritism, discrimination and corruption.
He said that in the absence of Child Ombudsman, the Ombudsman institution had developed a road map for strengthening laws and mechanisms for protection of child rights and effective measures to control cyber crimes against children. The Ombudsman Institution had played its successful role in the journey of four decades in providing speedy and inexpensive relief to a common man, he added.
Highlighting the achievements of ombudsman office, he said that it was worth mentioning that year 2022 witnessed the highest ever increase in complaints registration. As many as 164,174 complaints with 49% increase as compared to 2021, and the disposal also reached to all time high of 157,770 marking an increase of 47.7% over the figures of 2021, he added.
The Ombudsman said that people’s trust had immensely increased resulting in a major increase in the registration of complaints. He added that complaints worth over Rs.3 billion amount were resolved, as against 2.34 billion of last year. This had greatly contributed in lessening the load on judicial courts in the country, he added.
Reviewing the performance of the Wafaqi Mohtasib’s institution during the last forty years, Qureshi stated that more than 1.9 million households had benefitted from the services of this Office since its inception.
He further said that the Outreach Complaint Resolution (OCR) Project was successfully functioning in the far flung areas. It had now been further strengthened by holding Khuli Kachehri. These steps were contributing immensely in providing administrative justice to complainants closer to their houses, he added. He said that the presence of Ombudsman Office had been expanded to erstwhile FATA areas and recently two sub offices had been established at Wanna (South Waziristan) and Sada (Kurram District), with the sole idea of enhancing its outreach to remote areas.
Ejaz Qureshi said that the Ombudsman office had diversified its activities by undertaking inspections of various agencies against whom persistent complaints were pouring in. Teams constituted by the Ombudsman carried out inspections of agencies such as Passport Office, National Savings (CDNS), Airport , Nadra, Polyclinic, PIMS, Utility Stores, CDA and alike with a view to improving their service delivery.
Under the Informal Resolution of Disputes, 114 cases were disposed of since its introduction in April, 2022 and 266 cases were in process, he added. He reiterated that a large number of Overseas Pakistanis were being facilitated at all International Airports under One Window Facilitation Desk, where their complaints were resolved on the spot.