LAHORE:Federal Ombudsman Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi has vowed to resolve public disputes/cases of the lower strata, who cannot afford moving courts and hiring services of lawyers, through informal dispute resolution system and by carrying out inspections on priority basis.
While chairing a progress review meeting of investigating officers(IOs) at the regional office here on Monday, he asked the IOs to visit far-flung areas to address grievances of lower strata of society in the shortest possible time.
He said that the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat had earned public appreciation for its role and the services rendered since its inception. He said that inspection visits should be sporadic and should not be allowed to be construed as raids by the agencies. The objective of the visits should be to identify the problems, encountered by the public, the difficulties faced by the agencies in dealing with those problems and to suggest remedial measures, he added.
He directed all the IOs to get written statements from the representatives of the agencies, who make verbal commitment during proceedings to provide relief to the complainants. He advised the officers to serve the public by redressing their grievances.
All the IOs from regional offices — Lahore, Multan, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Sargodha — attended the meeting.