ISLAMABAD, Oct 28: Mr Javed Sadiq Malik was sworn in as Federal Ombudsman (Wafaqi Mohtasib) on Saturday. President Pervez Musharraf administered the oath to Mr Malik at the Aiwan-i-Sadr.

Mr Malik had retired from civil service earlier this month on Oct 17. His last assignment was principal secretary to prime minister. The former principal secretary had opted for pre-mature retirement to take up the charge of federal ombudsman.

The position had remained vacant since Feb 24 when Imtiaz Ahmed Sahibzada retired. Mr Malik is the ninth federal ombudsman. The institution was established in 1983.

Traditionally the federal ombudsman used to be a retired judge. Mr Sahibzada was first one to be appointed amongst the retired bureaucrats in 2002. All the other seven former federal ombudsmen are retired judges.

The charter of the office of federal ombudsman provides for diagnosing, investigating, redressing and rectifying any injustice done to a person through mal-administration of a government agency.

Last year, 14,602 complaints were investigated by the office of Federal Ombudsman, of which 10,713 were decided, which works out to 73 per cent. Out of these 10,713 decided complaints relief was provided in 8,934 cases almost 84 per cent.