The Office of Wafaqi Mohtasib having 15 Regional Offices in all the provincial capitals and other important cities of Pakistan is working day and night for resolution of public complaints against federal agencies throughout Pakistan; and new initiatives are being taken to increase the scope of activities of the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat (WMS) for this purpose. This was stated by the Wafaqi Mohtasib Mr. Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi while addressing Khuli Katchchery during his visit to Mansehra on 31st May, 2022.
Besides general public, the investigating officers of the Office of Wafaqi Mohtasib, Regional Heads of the federal agencies such as PESCO, SNGPL, NADRA, etc. were also present during the address of Wafaqi Mohtasib. The Wafaqi Mohtasib informed that he has chosen Mansehra as his first ever Khuli Katachchery and similar katcheries will also be held shortly at various districts / tehsils to ascertain the serious problems faced by the general public and ensure redress of those problems by the respective agencies. He informed that in Hazara region, a regional office of the Wafaqi Mohtasib having four Advisors Investigating Officers has been functioning effectively to redress the grievances of the general public; and a new regional office in Swat will be inaugurated soon. Similarly, another regional office to cover the tribal areas and the merged districts of FATA is proposed to be established in the near future so that the people of those areas could also benefit from the services being offered by the Office of Wafaqi Mohtasib.
The Wafaqi Mohtasib also informed the audience that by virtue of the mandate available to him under the law, he has introduced a system of inspection of the offices of federal agencies. Under this initiative, the Advisors of the WMS visit those federal agencies against which the number of complaints are relatively higher, so as to evaluate their service delivery on-the-spot and to suggest short and long term measures to improve their working. The inspection reports are submitted to the Wafaqi Mohtasib for approval whereafter the recommendations of the reports are forwarded to the respective Ministries and Heads of the federal agencies for immediate implementation.
The Wafaqi Mohtasib also informed the audience that he is empowered to informally conciliate, amicably resolve and settle public grievances; and a pilot project titled “Informal Resolution of Disputes” has recently been initiated to resolve those disputes which do not essentially fall within his jurisdiction. Under this initiative, the Advisors of the WMS ensure amicable settlement of the private disputes of the consenting parties; and this facility is provided free of cost by all regional offices of the WMS without involving the hiring of lawyers by the parties concerned. On this occasion, the Wafaqi Mohtasib also informed that he has been able to dispose of more than 106,000 complaints during the year 2021 and due to a massive awareness campaign launched by his Office, there has been an approximately 30% increase in 2022 in the number of complaints lodged.
