Provincial Ombudsman, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Badshah Gul Wazir, said that after the establishment of the office of Provincial Ombudsman at provincial capital the provincial government is going for establishing its regional office. The Provincial Ombudsman after meeting non-governmental organisations was addressing a press conference in Abbottabad.
He said that World Bank has offered assistance for the establishment of regional offices. He said that the institute established in January 2011 was aimed at provision of relief to people in complaints against the government departments and guaranteeing of their rights.
He said that during first year of the institute the office of the provincial ombudsman had disposed of 532 complaints and majority cases have been decided in favour of complainants. All decisions of the ombudsman have been implemented. Explaining the aims and benefits of the office of provincial ombudsman, he said that act for the establishment of the institute was passed by the Provincial Assembly in October 2010 in light of which the organisation became operational in January 2011. He said that during first year the organisation had disposed of all 532 complaints of the applicants, saying that 249 were not coming under the purview of the Provincial Ombudsman while the remaining 283 were related to prejudice cases against Federal departments.
The Provincial Ombudsman said that the organisation provides very simple procedure for registering complaints against public sector departments and achievement of their rights. Under the procedure any complainant can approach the office of provincial ombudsman against the injustice, incompetence and weakness of any government department through writing application without any affidavit, expense and lawyer. He said that the office of Provincial Ombudsman is responsible for making decision on any such matter within a period of six months. However, he said that during last one year all cases have been decided within a period of three months.
He said that in case of the receiving complaint they start proceeding and explanation is sought from the department concerned and majority of the departments accept their mistakes at this stage and provide relief to the complainant. In this connection, he specially mentioned some cases related to recruitments, pensions and other matters in which the complainants have been provided relief.
He said that applications against the poor performances of the department of education and health facilities could be presented before the provincial ombudsman while the Act of Provincial Ombudsman had also framed laws for the protection of the rights of children and women.
In response to questions, the Provincial Ombudsman said that 45 cases disposed of last year were related to the employment of the children of retired government employees and in majority cases their rights have been guaranteed. He explained that the decision of the Provincial Ombudsman could not be challenged in court of law. However, a memorandum in this connection could be presented to Governor of the province. He urged the representatives of non-governmental organisations and media persons to aware common men regarding the utility and procedure for the achievement of their rights to enable them for contacting the office of provincial ombudsman for filing of complaints and protection of their rights.
Badshah Gul Wazir said that the present democratically elected government has established the organisation for the protection of the rights of common men and provision of free and cheap justice to the people. He said that for insuring good governance, making the institutes responsible is the need of the hour. He said that the office of the Provincial Ombudsman is also answerable for redressing of complaints regarding public sector departments and the provision of relief is the basic purpose of this institute.
To another question, he said that the office of the Provincial Ombudsman had presented its one year performance report to Governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Provincial Assembly. The provincial legislatures, he said, debate and review the performance of the institute and will also approve measures for its further strengthening.
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