PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Public Services Commission (RPSC) has begun hearing and addressing the people’s complaints.

Its first order is for the Mardan police to register an FIR against an influential person for harassing a citizen.

A week ago, Faisal Ghani, a resident of Takhtbhai tehsil in Mardan, had submitted an application to the commission claiming despite repeated requests, the relevant station house officer had not been booking an influential person for harassing and manhandling him.


Orders Mardan police to book influential person for harassing a citizen


He said he had approached the district police officer, too, but to no avail.

Acting on the application, the RPSC comprising chief commissioner Azmat Haneef Orakzai and Major (r) Attaullah Khan summoned DPO Gul Afzal Khan Afridi for hearing.

During the hearing, it gave both sides the opportunity to explain their respective positions on the matter before ordering the police to register FIR against a local influential person, Nadeem Shah, within 30 days.

The applicant claimed that he was a poor person earning a livelihood by driving a rickshaw. He alleged Nadeem Shah had been harassing him for money and had manhandled him on several occasions.

The complainant insisted his repeated requests to the police against the influential person had fallen on deaf ears.

Before the start of Eidul Azha vacations, the relevant SHO informed the chief commissioner in writing that in line with the order of the commission, an FIR was registered by the Takhtbhai police station.

Producing a copy of the FIR, he said the police had begun investigation into the complaint.

In a news release issued here, chief commissioner Azmat Haneef Orakzai said RPSC had been striving to create public awareness of the law so that the people could approach it for resolution of grievances.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Public Services Act 2014 was approved by the provincial assembly and came into effect in January 2014.

The law is aimed to ensure the delivery of public services to the citizens of the province within the stipulated time.

The RPSC had designated 15 RTS district monitoring assistants at the district level. The district monitoring assistants will monitor the performance of public service providers at district level.

Presently, five public services have been notified as essential services, including documents of land (fard); domicile certificate; building plan; registration of birth/death certificate; and registration of FIR in police stations.

Under the law, “the government is empowered to specify any service as public service and also specify time limit within which such services should be provided by a designated officer to the eligible person.”

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2014

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