• Wafaqi Mohtasib inaugurates Regional Office at Muzaffarabad (AJ&K)
• Asks Heads of Federal Agencies to Ensure Speedy Redressal of Public Complaints.
• Redresses Record Number of Public Complaints during 2024
Karachi: January 22, 2025 – The Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman), Mr. Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi has asked the heads of federal agencies in AJ&K to ensure speedy resolution of public complaints. He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Wafaqi Mohtasib’s Regional Office, Muzaffarabad.
He said that this Office is continuously reaching out to the public, as a result increasing number of people are contacting this forum for redressal of their grievances. The outgoing year 2024, he said, witnessed a record increase in the receipt and disposal of complaints. Now with the opening of the Regional Offices at Muzaffarabad and Gilgit Baltistan, it has presence in 24 cities of the country, adding that more Regional Offices are expected to be opened later this year.
The inaugural ceremony was attended by a large number of senior officials belonging to AJ&K, apart from the heads of federal agencies, members of civil society and media. Speaking on the occasion, the Wafaqi Mohtasib further added that the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat during the outgoing year 2024, received as many as 226,372 complaints, out of which 223,171 have been disposed of, indicating an increase of 17% and 16% in the receipt and disposal of the complaints respectively over the figures of 2023. “Our Investigating Officers travelled across the length and breadth of the country and held Khuli Katcheries to dispense administrative justice at the doorsteps of the people, observing that Wafaqi Mohtasib’s Office is truly a poor man’s court”, he added.
He also presided over a meeting with the heads of federal government agencies, wherein he called upon them to ensure speedy redressal of public complaints. Later, he also addressed a well-attended press conference, wherein he lauded the constructive role being played by press and media and said that it remained instrumental in raising public awareness regarding the availability of this useful forum for prompt redressal of public complaints. He invited them to stand by the institution to enhance awareness for the general good of the people at large.
