Turf battle: Ombudsman accused of overstepping jurisdiction

Departments lock horns over establishment of district-level Mohtasib Pension Cells

LAHORE:

The Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) and the Ombudsman Javed Mehmood have locked horns over the establishment of district-level Mohtasib Pension Cells to resolve cases of retired government officials, The Express Tribune has learnt.

An official of the S&GAD said the chief secretary had taken the stance that the ombudsman was not empowered to constitute such cells.

The ombudsman’s spokesperson Abid Noor Bhatti said the initiative had been taken in accordance with the The Punjab Office of Ombudsman Act 1997.



A letter penned by the S&GAD Implementation and Coordination Wing secretary following a directive from Cheema that had been approved by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to the ombudsman said the establishment of Mohtasib Pension Cells overlapped with the workings of the district pension disposal committees. It maintained that every civil servant was entitled to receive pension and gratuity according to the terms and conditions of the civil service.

The letter stated that the S&GAD had been entrusted the function of expediting the finalisation of general provident fund benefits and delayed pension cases under the Punjab Government Rules of Business 2011. The government had constituted provincial and district case disposal committees in this regard in 2005. The provincial pension cases disposal committee has been meeting biannually at divisional headquarters to review district-wise progress in this regard.

The S&GAD maintained that the ombudsman could not entertain for investigation any complaint by or on behalf of any public servant or functionary concerning any mater relating to the agency in which he was, or had been working in respect of any personal grievances relating to his service. A verdict of the Supreme Court had declared pension to be one of the terms and conditions of the service and therefore the department said the Punjab Services Tribunal was the relevant forum to address grievances.

The Ombudsman Act had demarcated the jurisdiction and matters regarding pension, the establishment of the cells and its district-wise branches constituted its violation, the letter said. The official said the Finance Department had asked the ombudsman to stop making inquiries regarding the terms and conditions of service in 2013.

The official said the ombudsman was only authorised to investigate matters regarding official misadministration and could not take up pension cases.  Spokesperson Bhatti said the ombudsman had replied to the department. He said they had a dedicated adviser to address similar cases. He said the office was acting within its jurisdiction in addressing complaints regarding pension. He said the Act had in no way barred the establishment of cells to deal with pension cases.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2014.