LAHORE, April 18: The Punjab ombudsman received a record 13,681 complaints during 2007, says a report.

The education department topped the list with 2,135 complaints against it while there were 2,049 complaints against the police. There were 1,329 complaints against revenue administration and 884 against the local government’s Community Development Department.

According to the 2007 annual report, released by ombudsman Abdul Rashid Khan on Friday, a maximum of 1,682 complaints during the year were received from the City District Government of Lahore and a minimum of 61 from Attock district.

As many as 118,760 complaints had been received since the inception of the office on Sept 30, 1996 up to Dec 31, 2007, out of which 115,974 cases had been disposed of. The remaining 2,786 complaints had been carried forward to 2008.

As many as 7,010 complaints were decided after investigation during the year. The ombudsman secretariat not only received a record 13,681 complaints during 2007, but also processed a record 16,646 (including 2,985 previous). Of them, 13,860 complaints were disposed of, thus, reducing the number of complaints under investigation at the end of 2007 to 179.

The maximum number of non-maintainable complaints related to service matters which legally did not fall within the jurisdiction of the ombudsman office. Of the 6,286 maintainable complaints, more than half (52 per cent) were filed on account of inattention, delay, neglect, inefficiency and ineptitude of the agencies concerned. Maladministration was highlighted in 1,761 complaints which, although pertained to service matters, fell within the jurisdiction of ombudsman.

According to section 32 of the Punjab Office of the Ombudsman Act 1997, any person aggrieved by a decision or order of the ombudsman, within 30 days of the decision or order, can make a representation to the governor. During last year, some 452 such representations were decided by the governor, out of which 409 were rejected and the Punjab ombudsman’s orders were upheld. Only 25 representations (5.5 percent) were accepted and in 18 cases orders of the ombudsman were amended.

During 2007, around 145 petitions for implementation of directions issued earlier were received whereas 157 petitions pertaining to 2006 were already pending. As many as 158 such implementation petitions were disposed of. With the reduction of 13 petitions, 144 petitions were carried forward for implementation. The ombudsman has also formulated recommendations for government departments on the basis of experience gained by investigating the complaints in 2007. The recommendations have been arranged in two parts in the report. The first part contains recommendations which are applicable to all government departments/agencies.

Recommendations specific to departments have been given in the second part, which are based on the nature and causes of maladministration established during investigation of complaints and aim at removing the unfair causes of grievances which can be removed through a critical appraisal and review of rules/policies/instructions and carrying out amendments/modifications to make these fair and humane so that in each case one does not have to file a complaint to get his or her grievance redressed. LAHORE, April 18: The Punjab ombudsman received a record 13,681 complaints during 2007, says a report.

The education department topped the list with 2,135 complaints against it while there were 2,049 complaints against the police. There were 1,329 complaints against revenue administration and 884 against the local government’s Community Development Department.

According to the 2007 annual report, released by ombudsman Abdul Rashid Khan on Friday, a maximum of 1,682 complaints during the year were received from the City District Government of Lahore and a minimum of 61 from Attock district.

As many as 118,760 complaints had been received since the inception of the office on Sept 30, 1996 up to Dec 31, 2007, out of which 115,974 cases had been disposed of. The remaining 2,786 complaints had been carried forward to 2008.

As many as 7,010 complaints were decided after investigation during the year. The ombudsman secretariat not only received a record 13,681 complaints during 2007, but also processed a record 16,646 (including 2,985 previous). Of them, 13,860 complaints were disposed of, thus, reducing the number of complaints under investigation at the end of 2007 to 179.

The maximum number of non-maintainable complaints related to service matters which legally did not fall within the jurisdiction of the ombudsman office. Of the 6,286 maintainable complaints, more than half (52 per cent) were filed on account of inattention, delay, neglect, inefficiency and ineptitude of the agencies concerned. Maladministration was highlighted in 1,761 complaints which, although pertained to service matters, fell within the jurisdiction of ombudsman.

According to section 32 of the Punjab Office of the Ombudsman Act 1997, any person aggrieved by a decision or order of the ombudsman, within 30 days of the decision or order, can make a representation to the governor. During last year, some 452 such representations were decided by the governor, out of which 409 were rejected and the Punjab ombudsman’s orders were upheld. Only 25 representations (5.5 percent) were accepted and in 18 cases orders of the ombudsman were amended.

During 2007, around 145 petitions for implementation of directions issued earlier were received whereas 157 petitions pertaining to 2006 were already pending. As many as 158 such implementation petitions were disposed of. With the reduction of 13 petitions, 144 petitions were carried forward for implementation. The ombudsman has also formulated recommendations for government departments on the basis of experience gained by investigating the complaints in 2007. The recommendations have been arranged in two parts in the report. The first part contains recommendations which are applicable to all government departments/agencies.

Recommendations specific to departments have been given in the second part, which are based on the nature and causes of maladministration established during investigation of complaints and aim at removing the unfair causes of grievances which can be removed through a critical appraisal and review of rules/policies/instructions and carrying out amendments/modifications to make these fair and humane so that in each case one does not have to file a complaint to get his or her grievance redressed.