Federal Ombudsman Salman Farooqi on Thursday said that his office was committed to provide free and fair justice to people and strict actions would be taken against the investigation officers (IOs) who would not take decisions on merit.
Chairing the inaugural ceremony of a workshop on Institutional Reforms introduced by Federal Ombudsman, he asked the officials to ensure instant justice to masses and address their grievances to restore their trust on government departments. The workshop aimed at apprising the officials on the Federal Ombudsmen Institutional Reforms Ordinance 2013 and to clarify the ambiguities regarding the act. More than 50 IOs, staff members of federal and regional ombudsman offices participated in the workshop.
Farooqi also asked all the ombudsmen to assert their authority and take suo moto action in the matters. He said they have taken notice of dally passports issuance and increasing number of measles cases in the country which were directly affecting common people.
“Most of the people are not aware with the functions of ombudsman offices so it is our duty to create awareness and take steps for disseminating information as it is the only way to get justice at the earliest,” he added. Elaborating salient points of the new act, no one can file an appeal against the decision of the ombudsman office, but under the new act, the provision has been provided and the ombudsman will hear appeal case himself.
He further said the new act also gives contempt of court powers to the ombudsmen if their decisions were not implemented, adding that now people would be satisfied as they will be able to get results immediately. He said all these reforms had been introduced to facilitate people but now it was the duty of the concerned officers not to misuse their power and do their job with commitment.
