Acting Federal Ombudsman Salman Faruqui Sunday forwarded the proposals to more than 350 people with a view to elicit their feedback and reform proposals for legislative cover.
The proposals, which have been formulated by a committee of some federal and provincial ombudsmen headed by Dr Shoaib Suddle, have been sent to the heads of major civil society organisations, media representatives, government functionaries and experts in various fields.
Faruqui is of the view that a number of deficiencies and lacunae exist in the Ombudsman system which need amendments to promote efficiency and effectiveness, besides ensuring speedy redressal of citizens' grievances.
He is constituting a team of experts and professionals to liquidate over 75,000 complaints, which have piled up during the last two years because of the absence of Federal Ombudsman.
Major proposals for enhancing effectiveness of Ombudsman offices include:
a) Grievance commissioners are proposed to be appointed in all public dealing departments/ institutions for instant redressal of public grievances.
b) Ombudsman's role as a Commissioner under the Freedom of
Information laws shall be effectively strengthened, in the light of Article 19-A of the Constitution.
c) Complaints not instantly redressed shall be referred to the Ombudsman who will give his verdict within 60 days.
d) Review against the findings shall lie within 30 days of the receipt of recommendations by the aggrieved party.
e) Government departments or individual government employees shall have the right of appeal to the President if they fail to get relief in the review process.
f) Non implementation of findings/recommendations of the
Ombudsman within the prescribed time limit shall entail contempt proceedings against the relevant public official.
g) Bar of jurisdiction in certain Ombudsman laws in relation to any department or institution is proposed to be lifted in public interest.
Earlier, in a letter addressed to the stakeholders for eliciting their views to further underpin and improve this institution, the acting Federal Ombudsman stated:
"I have taken over recently as the Acting Ombudsman/Wafaqi Mohtasib of Pakistan. As you are aware, the architecture of the Ombudsman institutions include the Wafaqi Mohtasib, the Federal Tax Mohtasib, the Federal Insurance Mohtasib, the Banking Mohtasib and the Federal Ombudsman Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace at the Federal level. There are also Provincial Ombudsman institutions as
well as the AJK Mohtasib. I am mindful of the Ombudsman institutions' foremost duty is to the public to provide speedy redress to citizens against all forms of maladministration as defined in the relevant statutes. Prompt redress of public grievances is of the essence.
While I have taken up the task of pending complaints as a challenge, an exercise was conducted on priority basis to assess the legal and procedural bottlenecks that adversely affect Ombudsmen's performance. A meeting was chaired by Federal Tax Ombudsman, Dr Shoaib Suddle, to identify such bottlenecks. The recommendations of the meeting are enclosed. "I believe that the real stakeholders of the reform process are the public themselves as represented by the civil society organisations and resource individuals like you. This is the spirit in which I am addressing this letter to you. I greatly value the wisdom and experience that you possess and urge you to convey your well considered views or any recommendations on the reform proposals to: [email protected].
"I assure you that every possible consideration shall be given to your proposals and recommendations for legislation. I would, therefore, urge you to kindly render your valuable advice on the draft document".
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