ADDRESSING Federal Ombudsmen Conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, President Arif Alvi stressed the need to make the institution of Federal Ombudsmen more effective by amending the existing laws so as to provide free of cost and expeditious relief to the common man in resolving their grievances.
Given the expectations of the people from this vital institution of complaint redressal, one fully agrees with the point of view of President Arif Alvi to further strengthen the hands of Federal Ombudsmen by the way of bringing improvement in its laws. The ombudsman system is to be judged by its achievement, by its radical and reformative role in resolving grievances of the people and moulding the behaviour of the agencies of the government. An ombudsman provides a mechanism for enforcing accountability. They act as a deterrent to mal-governance and correction of malfeasance in government officers. There is no doubt that over the years the federal ombudsmen in Pakistan has provided immediate relief to hundreds of thousands of complainants. Apart from individuals, groups and communities have been seen approaching the institution for redressal of their problems relating to water supply, preservation of parks and play lands from encroachment and raising unauthorized structures, besides other issues. However, in the meantime, we are also witness to the fact that the federal agencies are no longer according much weight to the orders of the ombudsmen and taking them for granted. This will not augur well but only shake the confidence of the public on the ombudsmen. In this context, we expect that the President himself oversee the process of reforms in the Ombudsmen and such amendments be brought in its laws that makes its decisions on the departments binding at all costs. The ombudsmen should also flex their muscles and initiate contempt proceedings against the departments failing to comply with its orders. Awareness campaigns must also be launched so that the people of remote areas could also benefit from this institution.
