Officials of the Wafaqi Mohtasib at a consultative meeting on Monday discussed proposals to make the institution more efficient to redress public grievances within the minimum prescribed time.
The proposals made by mohtasib officials from all provinces are expected to be finalised for legislative cover by January 31. The meeting was chaired by Acting Federal Wafaqi Mohtasib Salman Faruqui. Law Minister Farooq H Naek and Law Secretary Justice Yasmeen Abbasey were later briefed in a meeting attended by a group of mohtasibs.
Naek highlighted the need to resolve public grievances and streamline the system by removing anomalies for people who required swift justice against mal-administration by government departments. He said the proposals would be circulated in the media, civil society and experts for input before consideration by government agencies and parliamentary committees. Officials also discussed the need to establish offices of Grievance Commissioners in all ministries and institutions that dealt directly with the public.
The commissioner would have direct access to case files and the department head, if he found merit in the complaint. The complaint would be referred to the Ombudsman if no action was taken by the department. These grievance cells would be known as ‘Instant Grievance Resolution Cells’.
The new procedure would allow complainants to file grievances by email, not require legal counsel or pay a fee. A separate exercise would be initiated to dispense with the personal presence of complainants and the documents provided by complainants and departmental files would be sufficient to arrive at decisions.
The meeting was attended by Wafaqi Tax Ombudsman Dr Shoaib Suddle, Federal Ombudsman for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Musarrat Hilali, Provincial Ombudsmen Asad Ashraf Malik (Sindh), M Mukhtar Khan (AJK), Akbar Ali Baloch (Balochistan), Badsha Gul Wazir (KPK), Federal Insurance Ombudsman Azhar Ali Farooqi and Syed Pir Ali and Sindh Provincial Ombudsman for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace and representative of Banking Mohtasib Farhat Saeed.
