President Dr Arif Alvi has said Wafaqi Mohtasib (Federal Ombudsman) is helping in promotion of good governance and delivering free-of-cost justice to the people. During his visit to the Wafaqi Mohtasib Office in Islamabad on Wednesday he stressed the need to further enhance awareness among the people about the role and services of Mohtasib in provision of timely justice against maladministration of government departments.
The office of the Federal Ombudsman was established in January 1983 with the explicit objective to diagnose, investigate, rectify and redress public grievances against maladministration by government agencies and a review of its overall performance would show that the institution has succeeded in making an impact on the otherwise rotten system. It has been instrumental in providing relief to the people as highlighted during the visit of the President who was informed that the Mohtasib resolved 193,028 complaints against the maladministration of government departments and provided relief worth 4.898 billion rupees to citizens last year. Furthermore, on the recommendations of Wafaqi Mohtasib, 18,000 street children were enrolled in government schools in Islamabad. Apart from the wrong done to the employees, pensioners are also meted out worse treatment not just by their departments but also the overall provincial and federal governments and in majority of cases; Ombudsman is seen as a beacon of light in resolving their grievances. The role and services rendered by the institution are particularly appreciable as it is striving to promote good governance and provide relief to the people despite the growing tendency of non-cooperation and non-implementation of its decisions on flimsy grounds in the absence of any penal powers against violators. Pakistan has over a dozen independent ombudsman institutions representing general and specific mandates at both federal and provincial levels, such as taxation, workplace harassment, insurance and banking and they can help accelerate progress towards good governance provided they are given necessary human and technological resources.
