Ombudsman’s post lying vacant for three months

Officials say complaints cannot be addressed until the president appoints new head.


Maha Mussadaq January 21, 2011

ISLAMABAD: The Wafaqi Mohtasib Cell is anxiously waiting for President Asif Ali Zardari to appoint a new federal ombudsman to begin processing complaints, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The office has been operating without an ombudsman since the retirement of Javed Sadiq Malik in September 2010.

“The absence of an ombudsman is delaying the redress of not just children’s complaints but all complaints,” official sources said.

They added that the cell is waiting for a new ombudsman to take over so that they can begin working on two consultancy working papers: “Baseline study” and “Best Practices”. These reports will be discussed in the Child Rights Steering Committee meeting. The meeting is supposed to take place at least once every quarter and all ministries concerned, which affect children and administer their progress, are required to attend.

“The first committee meeting took place in September 2010, right before the former ombudsman’s (Malik) retirement. Another meeting cannot take place without the new ombudsman,” the source said.

Hundreds of people turned to the Wafaqi Mohtasib Child Complaints Office (CCO) last year, requesting for assistance to ensure the rights of their children. According to the CCO’s annual report, the office received 102 complaints in 2010 and has received a total of 368 complaints since its inception in 2009. Of these, 174 complaints were under the jurisdiction of provinces and were referred to the provincial ombudsman’s office. “Most complaints received are against provincial and federal education departments,” an official said. “A number of complaints are also against Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).”

According to the report, the office received 94 complaints that were not within its ambit while 93 others were admissible. They were lodged with complete documents and names and 58 of them have been disposed of. The remaining 35 are being processed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st,  2011.

COMMENTS (1)

Relationship Advice | 13 years ago | Reply thats great. Our govt have more posts than work. All are just sitting there and having big salaries.
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