KARACHI: Provision of justice is the basic need of every society and country. The rule of law and the protection of human rights are guaranteed and that is why the President of Pakistan has declared Federal Ombudsman Secretariat "Island of Excellence".
According to a report on Monday, the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat has done great works to provided relief to the complainants in hundreds of cases in the first quarter of this year. Such as a retired officer of the federal government was paid Rs9.5 million of pension amount after nine years of his retirement. Department of Posts was ordered to give pension to the disabled employee's son within 30 days.
More than Rs55 million has been given as compensation from NHA to the affected people of Sorab Hoshab Road N-85 in Quetta. On the request of the residents of Nawahi Basti Jam Nizamuddin Ahanna of Bahawalpur, electricity was restored to the entire village. Pakistanis imprisoned in Saudi Arabian and Libyan prisons were released and brought to Pakistan.
On the woman's complaint, the stolen money from the ATM was transferred to her account. A new bill was issued after correcting the illegal electricity bill of a resident worth Rs300,000.
There is no fee and no need for a lawyer for filing cases at Federal Ombudsman office. The complainant can write the application on plain paper, send it by post, online or mobile app, and submit it in person.
As soon as the complaint is received, it will be processed and within 24 hours, the complainant will be notified on his/her mobile, along with regular action will be taken.
From the point of view of this institution, it is a matter of satisfaction that the complaints of more than 1.9 million citizens have been redressed in the last 40 years.
It is also gratifying that in the last year 2022, 157,770 complaints were decided and relief was provided to the citizens, which is 48% more compared to the year 2021.
Separately, a cell was also established to solve the problems of Pakistanis residing abroad and 137,423 complaints of Overseas Pakistanis were redressed by "Complaint Commissioner Cell for Overseas Pakistanis", which is 133% more than the year 2021.
Similarly, in the first quarter of the current year 2023, the Federal Ombudsman received 47,197 complaints, which is 43 percent more than the first quarter of the previous year. 45,021 complaints were received from overseas Pakistanis, a 102% increase over the same period last year.
On the one hand, this increase in complaints is a manifestation of the growing confidence of the people in the Federal Ombudsman due to its integrity and merit. On the other hand, the new vision, new initiatives and new policies of Federal Ombudsman Ijaz Ahmad Qureshi are also heavily involved.
For example, random inspection of various public service institutions by teams of senior advisors and issuance of orders on the spot to solve the problems of the people there and open courts in remote, less developed or deprived areas.
Such an arrangement, where the senior officers of the federal ombudsman personally go and listen to the complaints and take a decision on the spot and make it implemented by the representatives of the relevant departments.
Similarly, under the OCR program, the officers of the 17 regional offices of the federal ombudsman spread across the country are providing justice to the people at their doorstep by going to the level of various small towns and tehsils.
Federal Ombudsman Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi has been trying since the beginning to give special attention to the grievances of the poor people of the backward areas.
In this regard, they have recently opened two new sub-offices in Sada (Karam District) and Wana (South Waziristan) to provide justice to the complainants closer to their homes. This will save them travel expenses and time
Further, on the hearing dates of the cases, the complainants have the facility to participate in the hearing through video call and state their position. Similarly, a few years ago, a program of "IRD" has been started, in which people's problems are being resolved amicably by mutual consent.
The jurisdiction of the federal ombudsman is not only limited to redressal of complaints related to the federal government agencies, but he also conducts research through experts on the basis of the complaints raised by the people from various federal departments.
In this regard, the system of various institutions was reviewed and 28 SD reports were prepared by the committees consisting of eminent personalities in which changes were made in the system of these departments due to the implementation of the recommendations presented. It has benefited many people.
For example, earlier people had to stand in lines for hours in front of the National Bank to get their pension, but now through an automated system, the pension is deposited into their bank accounts.
Similarly, much time was wasted earlier to withdraw the interest amount from the National Savings Centers, now this interest goes into the customer's account and they can withdraw it from their cheque books whenever they want. Legislation is also underway to protect children's rights and report cybercrimes.
The report prepared regarding the reform of prisons is also showing positive results and in this regard, the Federal Ombudsman Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi himself went to the four provinces and visited the chief secretaries, IG prisons and other related parties.
Along with this, in order to ensure speedy resolution of complaints, in the light of the instructions of the Federal Ombudsman, most of the federal institutions have established a complaint cell.
In the same way, the inspection teams of the officers of all the offices of the Federal Ombudsman visited the utility stores across the country when the problem of lack of food items and increase in prices came to the light at the utility stores. They ensured supply of essentials goods at fixed prices.
Newsdesk