Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat (WMS) disposed of a record number of cases (57,830) during 2013.
As per the statistics provided by WMS, the number of cases disposed has raised almost four times than average disposal of cases by WMS i.e 16,584 per year, since its inception in 1983.
Another important role of WMS is the disposal of cases through mediation between the two parties and in this regard, the Mohtasib did well to settle down the issues between parties amicably which shows the commitment of the secretariat.
According to the rules and regulations, the ombudsman has a period of 60 days to decide on an application from the time of filing of a complaint which aims to provide speedy justice to applicants.
While the time of the implementation of the decisions by the WMS is 30 days after a decision is made on an application to ensure the proper follow up on its verdict.
The WMS, headed by Federal Ombudsman Salman Farooqui, has a very wide jurisdiction which includes ministries, departments, divisions, statutory bodies, corporations and institutions established or controlled by the federal government.
Working with eight regional offices at Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Multan, Dera Ismail Khan and Sukkur and a head office at Islamabad, the WMS aims to diagnose, investigate, redress and rectify any injustice done to a person through mal-administration of federal government agencies and its functionaries.
The vision of the Mohtasib is to promote high standards of governance, accountability, efficiency and provide easy and free of cost justice to common man through administrative justice services as there is no fee for filing of complaints at any of the WMS office by a person.
The person also does not need to hire a counsel for himself to contest his grievances as he has to appear in person for the remedy of his dilemma.
The WMS also enjoys the power of suo motu vested upon it against any issue of public interest in any department or organisation.
It also has the power of contempt of court, interim relief to complainant, spot inspection where required, powers to grant compensation and authority to recommend criminal or disciplinary action.
The jurisdiction of the WMS does not apply to certain areas include; the matters which are sub-judice, external affairs of Pakistan, Defence, Federal Public Service Commission etc.
The WMS has also taken several revolutionary steps to gear up the progress of the institution and to ensure expeditious and inexpensive justice to all and sundry that includes appointments of grievance commissioners for CDA and overseas Pakistanis.
The ombudsman has also established the office of National Commissioner for Child’s Grievance in WMS and unveiled the passport scam.
The other landmark initiatives include; SNGPL and SSGC taking Rs 13 billion from domestic consumers by enhancing arbitrary 200 percent security deposits, PIMS not using liver transplant machine for last two years, reconstruction of CDA and public forums for awareness etc.