Ombudsman announces zero tolerance policy over maladministration

Lahore: Provincial Ombudsman Javed Mehmood has said that maladministration will not be tolerated in government departments and the office of Ombudsman Punjab will play an exemplary role which the provincial departments will be compelled to follow. Provincial Ombudsman said that all offices of Ombudsman have been made people-friendly instead of officers-friendly. He said that doors of Ombudsman offices have been opened to the people, and the staff of Ombudsman office will address every complainant as ‘Sir’ for giving him due respect.

He was presiding over a meeting of officers of Ombudsman Office which was also attended by advisors of Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Multan, Secretary Ombudsman Punjab, Registrar, Director Public Relations, Protocol and as well as officers of Research, Admin and Accounts sections.

Javed Mehmood said that under the law, all departments are duty bound to obey orders of Ombudsman Punjab but he lamented that some provincial departments are not implementing these orders which is a serious violation to the law. He directed the advisors to make it clear to all provincial departments to implement orders of Ombudsman as they have no other choice. He said that if the trend of disregarding orders of Ombudsman continued, stringent punishment would be awarded to the officers working on key posts which would serve as example for others.

He directed the advisors to take bold decisions on the complaints of maladministration. He directed that time should not be wasted on such matters, the decision on which has to be ultimately made by the department and such cases should be sent to the concerned department from the beginning and their progress should be monitored.