• Federal Ombudsman’s Office Receives, Redresses Record Number of Complaints
• Impressive Implementation Rate Achieved
• Resolves to Further Enhance Outreach to Remote Areas

Islamabad: 8 April, 2025 – The outgoing year 2024 has been very eventful and productive for the Institution of Federal Ombudsman as it witnessed resolution of the record number of 223,198 complaints, out of the total 226, 372 it received. It showed an increase of 17% and 16% in receipt and disposal of complaints respectively over the figures of 2023.

This was stated by the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Federal Ombudsman), Mr. Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, while informally talking to a group of senior journalists at the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat here this afternoon.

The Federal Ombudsman said that during 2024, this office has been able to achieve an impressive implementation rate of 93.21% of its decisions/findings as against 85.70% in 2023.

During 2024,he said, 126 Khuli Katcheries (Public Courts) have been held across Pakistan with a view to providing administrative justice at the door steps of the people. In addition, 171 Outreach Complaint Resolution (OCR) visits have been carried out, which were instrumental in resolving as many as 4840 cases. Similarly, 79 Inspection Visits to different Federal Government agencies and departments have been held to improve their service delivery, informed the Ombudsman.

“With the opening of new Regional Offices and Complaint Collection Centres, the outreach and accessibility has been increased remarkably as now it has presence in 25 cities of the country including Muzaffarabad (AJ&K), Gilgit Baltistan and Sahiwal. We shall soon be opening another regional office at DG Khan”, he observed. Yet another important milestone has been the availability of IT and digital platforms for lodging the complaints and attending the hearing through zoom link and WhatsApp.

The Federal Ombudsman further added that the office has emerged as a truly poor man’s court, providing free and expeditious administrative relief to a large number of complainants at their door steps. Referring to the steps undertaken for facilitating the overseas Pakistanis, he said that a total number of 151,897 complaints were received during 2024. The One Window Facilitation Desks (OWFDs) set up at the international airports of the country facilitated 111,184 complainants, whereas 38,592 complaints were received by the Pakistan Missions abroad and 2,121 complaints by the office of Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis established at Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat.

The Federal Ombudsman also informed that a number of steps have been taken for ameliorating the lot of children in the country including appointment of a full-fledged Grievance  Commissioner for Children, whose office is located in the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat. Underscoring the need for raising the general awareness about the existence of this forum, the Wafaqi Mohtasib stated that a well-planned public awareness campaign is producing the desired results and the general public is fast becoming aware of its existence. This office has so far carried out 80 studies/reports to fix the systemic issues and problems being faced by the various Federal Government agencies.

Touching on the international profile of the institution, the Federal Ombudsman stated that as President of the Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA), Pakistan was making efforts for upholding the cause of Ombudsmanship in the Asian Region and beyond.