SHC requested to declare amended ombudsman bill unconstitutional

A petition was filed in the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday seeking the declaration that the newly introduced ‘Establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman for the Province of Sindh (Amendment) Bill 2020’ was unconstitutional.

Pasban, through its chief Altaf Shakoor, said in the petition that the Sindh chief minister had jeopardised and taken over the powers of the province’s governor for the appointment of the ombudsman for Sindh under the umbrella of the provincial assembly by misusing with mala fide intention the majority political seats and representation in the legislature.

The petitioner said the CM had snatched the governor’s powers for the appointment of an impartial person in the provincial ombudsman office for ensuring checks and balances and eradicating corruption for the smooth functioning of the government office and to redress the complaints of the public aggrieved by the acts of the government and its offices.

He said that the theme and scheme of the institution of the ombudsman is to eradicate corruption and maladministration in the provincial government’s offices by an impartial person appointed by the Sindh governor.

However, he added, the Sindh Assembly with mala fide intention passed the bill on January 8 and then sent it to the governor to approve the amendments made in the Act of 1991.

The petitioner said that the salient features of the amendments are transferring the control of the ombudsman’s institution from the governor to the CM, including the appointment of the ombudsman by the province’s chief executive.

He said that the provision of extension and reappointment of the ombudsman had been removed in the impugned bill, although this provision was included in the Act of 2012, whereby on the recommendation of the CM, the governor could extend the term of or reappoint the incumbent ombudsman.

He also said that such a provision was included in the Act of 2012 by an assembly dominated by the Pakistan Peoples Party and done away by the same party after seven years.

He added that the qualification for appointment as ombudsman has been brought down to officers retired at grade-20, whereas advisers, consultants and the secretary of the ombudsman secretariat have served and are serving in grade-21, grade-22 or at the very least, senior grade-20.

The petitioner said that the present amendment is contrary to the legal and conceptual basis of an independent institution keeping the maladministration of the executive in check.

He added that if the executive appoints the head of an institution set up to provide administrative justice by keeping the maladministration in check, how can such an appointee be in a position not to acknowledge the favour.

He said that the institution had been working effectively under the governor completely independent of the executive, and after the passing of the bill, it would now be rendered totally ineffective, as the ombudsman would be subservient to the CM, who himself was facing National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) cases and enquiries into corruption and maladministration.

He claimed that the impugned amendment had been passed on purely mala fide basis on the part of the ruling provincial government to control the only viable institution that was serving as a watchdog for bad governance and maladministration by government departments.

He claimed that the government wanted to appoint former secretary Fazlullah Pechuho, who had retired at grade-20 and was facing NAB inquiries with regard to irregularities in the health and education departments.

The petitioner said that through the impugned amendment bill, all the powers have been vested with the CM of the province by taking the power from the governor, who is a representative and a symbol of the federation as well as of impartiality.

He said that 13 regional offices have been affected all over the province by the impugned bill, as political and bureaucratic interferences have been inducted and injected into the institution of the province to save the skin of corrupt officials of different departments of the Sindh government against complaints, and it is tantamount to destroying the administrative system and infrastructure of the entire province and darken the future of the people of the province that is already in a decline.

The petitioner said that the controversial bill was passed by the Sindh Assembly on January 8, when the quorum in the House was incomplete and only 24 lawmakers were present, which changes the functions undertaken by the administrative committee such as formulating the complaint policies.