The Federal Ombudsman office has recently informed its countrymen that the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat received and processed a record number of complaints which stood at 194,106 that is 18% higher than the preceding years. The authorities claimed that 88% complaints were disposed of within the prescribed limit of 60 days, wherein each and every decision was implemented through a comprehensive a system of strict monitoring, follow up and verification before justice dispensed to the people at their doorsteps.
Founded in 1983, the Federal Ombudsman Office is the least known and poorly performed institution of the State of Pakistan. Historically, a lack of public awareness and inaccessibility remained big hurdle for the masses to benefit from services of the Ombudsman Office. Meanwhile, insufficient infrastructure, shortage of manpower, limited authority, and no cooperation from the sister agencies and other government departments were the other impediments that badly marred the service delivery of the Ombudsman secretariat throughout the past. Owing to these circumstances, the office could not performed according to the expectation of the public.
Recently, the federal Ombudsman office established its regional offices across the country and constituted a team of professional investigators to effectively investigate and resolve public disputes in a stipulated time frame. The Ombudsman staff often hold Khulli katchehries and mediate talks/ agreement between petitioner and accused through Informal Resolution of Disputes (IRD) mechanism to settle their mutual issues amicably. Thus, Ombudsman office provide a window for the people to settle down their disputes through mutual consensus who otherwise are disappointed from lengthy courts hearing and prolonged investigation of the LEAs. The Federal Ombudsman Secretariat has implemented a wide range of measures to resolve the problems of the Overseas Pakistanis, pensioners and prisoners specially the women and juvenile inmates in government custody, which considerably enhanced its worth and improved service delivery to the public.
In the current scenario, the Ombudsman office is playing vital role in resolving family matters and land disputes along side assisting the police and lower courts to dispose off their long-held unsolvable cases in short span of time. There is need for further empowerment and strengthening of the Ombudsman setup in all parts of the country, so this mechanism perform a more kinetic role in our society.
