Ombudsman wants timely implementation on decisions

The Federal Ombudsman Secretariat on Friday stressed the need for ensuring implementation of its pending decisions, which have been facing delays because of the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

During a meeting of the Wafaqi Mohtasib’s implementation department, Federal Ombudsman Syed Tahir Shahbaz summoned the heads of agencies concerned to Islamabad to discuss the execution of decisions taken by various ombudsmen.

“The implementation on our decisions is encouraging but the execution on pending decisions must also be ensured,” Shahbaz said.

In his briefing, Senior Adviser for Implementation Shahidullah Baig said that only 1,966 decisions were yet to be implemented – out of which 682 decisions still have permissible time while implementation on 1,284 decisions was overdue.

Moreover, he said that appeals have been filed to the president on 54 decisions and seven have been requested for review.

Briefing about the procedure for handling the grievances, Senior Adviser Hafiz Ehsan Ahmad Khokhar said that 161 federal institutions and 114 missions of Pakistan have been attached to the Complaint Management Information System of the Federal Ombudsman. Under the system, he added that 19,003 complaints have been received from January-August 4, out of which 3,011 complaints have been disposed of.

The federal ombudsman has instructed such institutions to ensure the implementation of the decisions. “Due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, some delay is understandable, but further time will not be permitted,” he added.