PESHAWAR, June 28: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ombudsman Badshah Gul Wazir has said that his office has registered 583 cases against different government departments during the last one and a half year.

Out of the total complaints, 74 were filed against the education department, he told a press conference here on Thursday. He added that 462 complaints were decided and justice was provided to people.

Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Arshad Abdullah was also present on the occasion.

The provincial ombudsman said that 72 complaints were rejected owing to lack of proof and procedural reasons. He said that more than 70 cases were still under process. He added that 85 cases were decided in favour of complainants while more than 49 were decided against them.

Mr Wazir said that findings of 49 complaints were implemented while around 23 were still pending owing to certain reasons. He said that many complaints relating to federal agencies remained undecided owing to the issue of jurisdiction. He said that about 79 complaints were registered against the federal agencies.

The provincial ombudsman said that 74 complaints were registered against elementary and secondary education department, followed by Provincial Disaster Management Authority with 34 complaints. He said that 32 complaints each were registered against both health and police departments and 24 against revenue department. More than 53 miscellaneous cases were also registered, he added.

Mr Wazir claimed that his office played pivotal role in providing relief to complainants with timely disposal of maximum number of cases during the last one and half year. He said that his office would launch its website with the assistance of UNDP to ensure easy accessibility to all relevant information, findings of cases, regulations, service rules and process of filling electronic complaints.

Mr Wazir said that his office would also launch a mobile service with support of UNDP to quickly inform complainants about status of their cases.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Abdullah said that importance of provincial ombudsman was vital for provision of timely relief to complainants. He said that unprecedented powers like issuing stay order, contempt of court and suo motu were awarded to the ombudsman to point out maladministration and mismanagement at provincial departments.

The minister admitted that it would take time to strengthen and make fully operational the office of provincial ombudsman. He said that provincial government followed the directives of ombudsman. “Overall performance of ombudsman office is satisfactory as it was established only two years ago. With the passage of time all essential resources will be provided to the office to keep proper check on provincial departments,” he added.

Mr Abudlluah said that Watan Cards to the victims of bomb blasts and floods would also be provided through the ombudsman office.