ORDINANCE NO. I OF 2013
An Ordinance
to make institutional reforms for standardizing and harmonizing the laws
relating to Federal Ombudsmen institution of and the matters ancillary or akin
thereto;
[Gazette of Pakistan, Extraordinary, Part-I, 12th February, 2013]
No.
F. 2(1)/2013-Pub.—The
following Ordinance promulgated by the President is hereby published for
general information:-
WHEREAS it is expedient to make institutional
reforms for standardizing and harmonizing the laws relating to institution of
Federal Ombudsmen and the matters ancillary or akin thereto;
AND WHEREAS, it is expedient to enhance
effectiveness of the Federal Ombudsmen to provide speedy and expeditious relief
to citizens by redressing their grievances to promote good governance;
AND WHEREAS, it is necessary that in order to
enable the Federal Ombudsmen to perform their functions efficiently, they
should enjoy administrative and financial autonomy;
AND WHEREAS the National Assembly and the
Senate are not in session and the President is satisfied that circumstances
exist which render it necessary to take immediate action;
Now, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers
conferred by clause (1) of Article 89 of the Constitution of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan, the President is pleased to make and promulgate the
following Ordinance:--
1. Short title, extent and commencement.—(1) This Ordinance may be called the Federal
Ombudsmen Institutional Reforms Ordinance, 2013.
(2) It
extends to the whole of Pakistan.
(3) It
shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions.—In this Ordinance, unless there is anything
repugnant in the subject or context,—
(a) "Agency" means, the Agency
defined in the relevant legislation and in relation to the Establishment of the
Office of Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman) Order, 1983 (P.O. No. l of 1983) shall
include an Agency in which the Federal Government has any share or which has
been licensed or registered by the Federal Government and notified by the
Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman) in the Official Gazette.
(b) "Ombudsman" mean an Ombudsman
appointed under the relevant Legislation and includes the Ombudsman appointed
under Section 21.
(c) "relevant legislation" means,
the Office of Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman) Order, 1983 (P.O. No. l of 1983), the
Establishment of the Office of Federal Tax Ombudsman Ordinance, 2000 (XXXV of 2000),
the Insurance Ordinance, 2000 (Ordinance No. XXXIX of 2000), the Banking
Companies Ordinance, 1962 (LVII of 1962), and the Protection against Harassment
of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010 (IV of 2010).
3. Tenure of the Ombudsman.—The Ombudsman shall hold office for a period
of four years:
Provided that the Ombudsman shall continue to
hold office after expiry of his tenure till his successor enters upon the
office.".
4. Acting Ombudsman.—At any time when the office of Ombudsman is vacant
or he is unable to perform his functions due to any cause the President shall appoint
an Acting Ombudsman who shall perform functions and exercise powers as are
vested in the Ombudsman and shall be entitled to all privileges as are
admissible to Ombudsman:
Provided that till such time the Acting
Ombudsman is appointed, the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman) shall act as Ombudsman
of the concerned office and in case the Wafaqi Mohtasib is absent or unable to
perform functions of his office, the Federal Tax Ombudsman shall act as Wafaqi
Mohtasib (Ombudsman), in addition to his own duties.
5. Removal of Ombudsman.—An Ombudsman may be removed from office
through Supreme Judicial Council on the grounds of being incapable of properly performing
duties of his office by reason of physical or mental incapacity or found to have
been guilty of misconduct.
6. Resignation.—The Ombudsman may resign his office by
writing under his hand addressed to the President.
7. Grievance Commissioner.—(1) The Ombudsman shall appoint or designate
an officer not below BPS-21 as a Grievance Commissioner in an Agency against
which a large number of complaints are received persistently.
(2) The
Grievance Commissioner shall exercise the powers and perform the functions as
may be specified by the Ombudsman.
8. Oath of office.—An Ombudsman shall take Oath before he enters
upon his office in the form as prescribed in the relevant legislation and in
case such form is not prescribed in the relevant legislation he shall make oath
before the President before he enters upon the office in the form set out in
the Schedule to this Act.
9. Expeditious disposal of complaints.—(1) The Agency shall, if so required by the
Ombudsman, submit written comments in a complaint within fifteen days, and this
period may be extended for a further period of seven days on a sufficient cause.
(2) The
representative of the Agency shall, if so required by the Ombudsman, attend the
hearing of a complaint, or may request in writing for adjournment with specific
reasons, such adjournment if justified shall not be allowed more than seven
days.
(3) Disciplinary
action shall be taken by the competent authority if there is failure in terms
of sub-section (1) or sub-section (2).
(4) The
Competent authority shall within fifteen days inform the Ombudsman about the
action taken on his orders under sub-section (3).
(5) The
Ombudsman shall dispose of the complaint within a period of sixty days.
10. Powers of Ombudsman.—In addition to powers exercised by Ombudsman under
the relevant legislation, he shall also have following powers of a civil Court,
namely:-
(i) granting
temporary injunctions; and
(ii) implementation
of the recommendations, orders or decisions.
11. Temporary Injunction.—The Ombudsman may stay operation of the impugned
order or decision for a period not exceeding sixty days.
12. Power to punish for contempt.—An Ombudsman shall have power to punish for
contempt as provided in the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003 (V of 2003).
13. Review.—(1) The Ombudsman shall have the power to review any findings, recommendations,
order or decision on a review petition made by an aggrieved party within thirty
days of the findings, recommendations, order or decision.
(2) The
Ombudsman shall decide the review petition within forty five days.
(3) In
review, the Ombudsman may alter, modify, amend or recall the recommendation,
order or decision.
14. Representation.—(1) Any person or party aggrieved by a
decision, order, findings or recommendations of an Ombudsman may file
representation to the President within thirty days of the decision, order,
findings or recommendations.
(2) The
operation of the impugned order, decision, findings recommendation shall remain
suspended for period of sixty days, if the representation is made as per sub-section
(1).
(3) The
representation shall be addressed directly to the President and not through any
Ministry, Division or Department.
(4) The
representation shall be processed in the office of the President by a person
who had been or is qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court or has been
Wafaqi Mohtasib or Federal Tax Ombudsman.
(5) The
representation shall be decided within one hundred and twenty days.
15. Personal hearing.—It shall not be necessary for the President
or the Ombudsman to give personal hearing to the parties and the matter may be
decided on the basis of available record and written comments filed by the
Agency.
16. Supply of copies.—The Ombudsman shall supply free of cost
copies of the findings and recommendations to the parties.
17. Administrative and financial powers of
Ombudsman.—(1) The Ombudsman
shall be the Chief Executive and Principal Accounting Officer of the Office and
shall enjoy complete administrative and financial autonomy.
(2) The
remuneration payable to the Ombudsman and the administrative expenses of the
office shall be an expenditure charged upon Federal Consolidated Fund.
(3) The
Ombudsman shall have full powers to create new posts and abolish old posts, to
change nomenclature and upgrade or downgrade any post provided the expenditure
is met from within the allocated budget of the office of Ombudsman.
(4) The
Ombudsman shall have full powers to re-appropriate funds from one head of
account to another head of account and to sanction expenditure on any item from
within the allocated budget.
(5) The
Ombudsman may delegate any of the above mentioned powers to a member of the
staff not below BPS-21 or equivalent.
18. Bar of jurisdiction.—No Court or authority shall have jurisdiction
to entertain a matter which falls within the jurisdiction of an Ombudsman nor
any Court or authority shall assume jurisdiction in respect of any matter
pending with or decided by an Ombudsman.
19. Additional responsibility.—Where an Ombudsman is called upon to look after
work of any office in the service of Pakistan he shall not be entitled
to any remuneration therefor.
20. Holding office of profit after expiry of
tenure.—The Ombudsman shall not
hold any office of profit in the service of Pakistan, other than a judicial or
quasi-judicial office, before the expiration of two years after he has
completed the tenure of his office.
21. Miscellaneous.—A woman, with an experience of atleast ten
years in the matters relating to protection of women against harassment shall
also be .eligible to be appointed by the President as Ombudsman under the
Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010 (IV of 2010).
22. Power to make rules.—The Ombudsman, with the approval of the President,
may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes
of this Act.
23. Removal of difficulties.—If any difficulty arises in giving effect to
any provision of this Act, the President may make such Order, as may appear to
him to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of removing the difficulty.
24. Overriding effect.—(1) The provisions of this Act shall have
effect notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being
in force.
(2) In
case there is a conflict between the provisions of this Act and the relevant
legislation, the provisions of this Act to the extent of inconsistency, shall
prevail.
"THE SCHEDULE
[See Section 8]
I, ………………….. do solemnly swear that I will
bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan;
That as …………………….. Ombudsman, I will
discharge my duties and perform my functions honestly, to the best of my
ability, faithfully in accordance with the laws of the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan, and without fear or favour, affection or ill-will;
That I will not allow my personal interest to
influence my official conduct or my official decisions;
And that 1 will not directly or indirectly
communicate, or reveal to any person any matter which shall be brought under my
consideration, or shall become known to me, as Ombudsman, except as may be
required for the due discharge of my duties as Ombudsman.
May Allah Almighty help and guide me (Ameen).".
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