Government departments ordered to connect complaint systems with Wafaqi Mohtasib

Federal Ombudsman of Pakistan Muhammad Salman Faruqui has ordered all federal government departments to connect their complaint systems with the new speedy online public complaint resolution system of the Wafaqi Mohtasib along with establishment of Helpline so that the people could be provided speedy and inexpensive justice through this system.
He said "we have developed a popular judicial system, under which all ministries and federal government offices have designated a 'Grievance Officer' not below the rank of BS-19 who would register and hear complaints of his ministry or department on behalf of Federal Ombudsman."
He said w.e.f. 1st October, 2016, those Grievance Officers were being notified and they were empowered under section-33 of Federal Ombudsman to hear and decide cases amicably. Faruqui said office of the Federal Ombudsman was a corruption free organisation, as "we have put a strict check & balance in our office." In this regard, a study was carried out by the World Bank.
He said in the last three years nearly 280,000 complaints had been resolved and the appeal percentage against their decisions was less than 0.50 percent, which was a lowest percentage of appeals against decisions in any judicial institution. He said while investigation of cases, the complainant was only called for one time and each case was decided within 15-45 days, adding that every day almost 2,000 cases were decided.
Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar, Senior Advisor (Law)/Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis in the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat Islamabad briefed the representatives of all federal govt departments on the Public Complaint Resolution Mechanism. The meeting was attended by representatives of 81 federal govt departments.
Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar while giving the briefing informed the representatives of federal govt departments that the Grievance Officer was bound to register the complaint within 24 hours and the Investigating Officer and competent authority of the department had seven days each for resolution of complaint.
After 15 days, if the grievance officer fails to resolve the complaint, it would automatically launch a complaint in the office of Federal Ombudsman. He said that this would improve the efficiency of ministries/divisions/attached departments/subordinate offices/ organisations in the context of public dealings, which is a basic requirement of good governance and image building. He said Federal ombudsman secretariat had decided that all the Ministries/Division/Organisations should introduce an auto connect system for standardisation of complaints mechanism and to connect with ombudsman complaint management system for early resolution of public grievances, which will not only benefit the complainants but the top management of govt organisations would also be equally benefited.
Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar, Senior Advisor (Law)/Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis also introduced an informative standee and boards which would be placed at the reception of all ministries and departments for public awareness. He also informed that the list of all Focal Persons/Grievance Officers of ministries and departments would be available at the website of Federal Ombudsman. The Federal Ombudsman thanked the representatives of the departments and urged that they should serve the people to be considering as a sacred duty.-PR