Comments of law officer, PA speaker sought on ombudsman amendment

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the advocate general, the speaker of the provincial assembly and others to file comments on a petition asking the court to declare the amended ‘Establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman for the Province of Sindh (Amendment) Bill 2020’ 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, whose salient features 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 also 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 further 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 Pakistan Peoples Party to control the only viable institution that was serving as a watchdog for bad governance and maladministration by government 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 the CM has delegated the power to himself to appoint the provincial ombudsman to check corruption in departments under his administration, which is against the principle of law, the constitution and the principle of natural justice, and thus illegal and unconstitutional.

He added that it is the golden principle of law that nobody can be a judge of their own cause, and getting the power to appoint the ombudsman means that the accused has become a judge of allegations levelled against him.

He said that the provincial legislature has no lawful power and authority to pass the impugned bill with an incomplete quorum and without fulfilling the lawful and constitutional formalities.

The petitioner requested that the court declare the impugned act unconstitutional and of no legal effect, and direct the respondents to produce the details of attendance, proceedings and debate, regarding the passing of the law. The SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar directed the provincial advocate general, the PA speaker and others to file comments on the petition by March 26, observing that if the comments are not filed, the petition will be heard and decided on the available record.