AJK president hails ombudsman for dispensing prompt justice

Ombudsman Zafar Hussain Mirza calls on Sardar Masood and presents report of the performance of his institution

ISLAMABAD:

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has appreciated the performance of the state ombudsman's secretariat for dispensing prompt and inexpensive justice to the people and protecting their rights.

He was speaking to AJK Ombudsman Zafar Hussain Mirza who called on him and presented the report of the performance of his institution for the year 2019 to the state president on Friday.

While hailing the setting up of special implementation cell under the supervision of the ombudsman, President Masood said that implementation of 80 per cent pending judgments was a highly encouraging development and reflects of the department.

"The appointments – made by the ombudsman in his institution purely on merit and through a transparent process – are precedent for other institutions, and this is also a good omen that the AJK ombudsman's institution had established its credibility on the national and the international levels during the last two years," he added.

He said in 2018, the AJK ombudsman hosted the 19th annual session of the Mohtasib Forum Pakistan which was attended by the federal and provincial Ombudsman from all over the country.

Similarly, he the president said that incumbent ombudsman appreciably represented Jammu and Kashmir state at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and international ombudsmen's associations.

He also expressed the pleasure that the ombudsman's secretariat had planned to digitise its system to ensure implementation of its judgements, saying that digital system will go a long way in redressing complaints of the people and ensuring implementation of the ombudsman's judgements.

On this occasion, ombudsman Mirza apprised President Masood of salient features of the annual report for the year 2019, saying that besides representing Azad Kashmir on the international forums, he is thinking to establish regional offices of the ombudsman's secretariat in the state in order to provide justice to the people at their doorstep.

The ombudsman's report says that on January 1, 2019 a total of 66 complaints were under process in the registry department and 282 in the process of investigation, while 315 new complaints were received during the year. In this way, a total of 663 complaints were scrutinised, and 151 were not found maintainable.

However, 160 complaints were investigated, and relief was provided to 115 complainants during the year. Similarly, different government departments submitted 200 compliance reports to the ombudsman's secretariat, while 191 complaints were pending for implementation.