Sindh CM gains power to appoint ombudsman

Durrani issues notification for the approval of controversial amendment bill

KARACHI: Sindh Assembly speaker Agha Siraj Durrani has issued a notification for the approval of an amendment bill that transfers the Sindh governor's authority to appoint the provincial ombudsperson to the chief minister.

The Establishment of the Office of Ombudsman for the Province of Sindh (Amendment) Bill, 2010, will be enforced following Durrani's notification, and a new provincial ombudsman will soon be appointed. The appointment will be for a tenure of three years. The current ombudsman has completed his term, while three bureaucrats are under consideration for the position at the moment.

The Sindh Assembly had reapproved the amended law on January 23, after Sindh governor Imran Ismail had raised objections and refused to give his assent to it. With the bill being passed again, it was to become law even without Ismail's consent.

When the amendment bill was first passed on January 8, Sindh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Chawla maintained that "in order to make the role of the provincial ombudsperson more effective, it is expedient to empower the CM."

Although the bill was then passed with a majority vote, it was met with an outcry from opposition parties, whose members staged a walkout from the assembly proceedings in protest.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2020.