1.9m persons benefitted from Fed Ombudsman office in 40 years.

ISLAMABAD -- Over 1.9 million persons have benefitted from the services of the office of the Federal Ombudsman in Pakistan since its inception some 40 years back. The services of the institution have contributed in developing this institution into a premier institution of administrative accountability in the country.

Comparing the number of complaints received during the year 2022, Federal Ombudsman Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi said that the receipts rose from 110,405 in 2021 to the highest ever number of 164,174 (49% increase) and disposal reached an all-time high of 157,770, marking an increase of 47.7% over the figures of the year 2021. He said that 137,423 complaints of overseas Pakistanis were resolved with an increase of 133% as compared to 2021. He stated that people's trust has immensely increased resulting in a dramatic increase in the registration of complaints and complaints worth over Rs3 billion of disputed amounts were addressed by this office during the last year, which otherwise would have added burden on the civil courts.

He said that government expenditure per complainant in disposing of complaints through Wafaqi Mohtasib construes negligible amounts, thus it is the most cost-effective way of providing relief to the common man. Addressing a news conference on the occasion the 40th year of the establishment of the Ombudsman institution in Pakistan, Federal Ombudsman Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi said that maladministration and bad governance are two sides of the same coin. Both breed in an environment of favouritism, discrimination and corruption.

Addressing maladministration, therefore, is essential for ensuring sanctity of human rights and achieving the ultimate goals of good governance and the rule of law. He said that the office of the Federal Ombudsman was established vide the President's Order No 1 on 24 January 1983 with the explicit objective to diagnose, investigate, redress and rectify any injustice done to a person through maladministration by the government agencies. Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi said that...

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