A meeting on establishment of Public resolution mechanism and installation of help lines within all the federal govt departments was held in Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat Islamabad which was attended by representatives of 78 federal govt departments .Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar Senior Advisor (Law)/Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis chaired the meeting and advised the representatives of federal govt departments for resolution of public grievances promptly preferably within 15 days and stressed for improvement in the efficiency of ministries/divisions/attached departments/subordinate offices/ organizations in the context of public dealings which is basic requirement of good governance and image building. He said that Federalombudsman secretariat has decided that all the Ministries/Division/Organizations should introduce auto connect system for standardization of complaints mechanism and to connect with ombudsman complaint management system for early resolution of public grievances which will not only benefit the complainants but the top management of govt organization would also be equally benefited.
Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar Senior Advisor (Law)/Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis said that all federal government departments should establish new Public Complaints Resolution Mechanism under the supervision of an officer of BS-19 or above as Focal Person, with an appointment of Complaint Officer who will receive every public complaint and letter and will register the same in the system and then will put up to the Focal Person for appropriate officer for further action under the law. He also said that all departments should also approach ministry of information technology for installation of their Helplines for public complaints and for their guidance before the next meeting. Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar Senior Advisor (Law)/Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis also said to the participants that all ministries should display their brochures/printed material regarding ambit of Ministry/Division/Attached Departments/ Subordinate Offices/ Organizations for public guidance and awareness and must set up a mechanism for providing timely feedback as to the outcome of the complaints. He said that the Ministry /Division/ Attached Departments/ Subordinate Offices/ Organizations should also inform the complainants of any available internal or external review mechanisms in public interest. He also suggested that Complaints Policy and Procedures must be displayed prominently within the premises of the organization as well as on the website and all complaints should be treated as urgent and handled in a timely manner.
He further said to the govt representatives to provide the list of Focal Persons along with their Complaint Officers in next three days to federal ombudsman secretariat and thereafter these focal persons and Complaints Officer will be trained for running this new complaints management system . Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar Senior Adviser and Grievance commissioner for overseas Pakistanis to federal ombudsman Pakistan said that the new complaints management system will be launched with coordination of all federal govt departments in next month. He said that after installation of this new complaint management system all public complaints will be addressed responded under the law by the federal govt departments which will ultimately send a massage of good gesture and care to the public at large and will also boost the perception of government offices. Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar Senior Advisor (Law)/Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis said that in case the department will fail to respond the complainants in 15 days from the date of institution then the matter filed with the department will show on the ombudsman website and will be treated as regular complaint and noticed will be issued to the department and complainant. He said that all Ministries/Divisions/ Departments/Organizations will submit their compliance reports by 24th September, 2016 and next meeting on the subject will be held on 28th September, 2016 in the Federal Ombudsman’s Secretariat, Islamabad.
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