Education Department leads complaint index

The provincial Education Department leads the complaint index of the Punjab Ombudsman with about 20 per cent applicants alleged the department of various problems ranging from maladministration to corrupt practices.
As per a report, during the last year, 13157 complaints were received by the Ombudsman, while 4893 were maintainable and 8264 applications were non-maintainable. As far as the nature of maladministration is concerned, 53 per cent, that is, 2588 complainants were of the view that various departments were guilty of inattention, delay, neglect, inefficiency and ineptitude, 30 per cent (1470 applicants) deemed that their cases related to administrative excesses, discrimination, favouritism, and arbitrary, unjust and biased decisions, while 17 per cent (835 applications) were pointing out corrupt practices across all departments.
Complaints about pensionary and other retirement benefits were maximum, that is 376, out of the 967 applications alleging departments of maladministration in service matters. On the other hand, 171 submissions were about appointment under rule 17-A (Plaintiff and Defendant; Capacity; Public Officers), 134 about payment of pending bills, 122 about release/fixation of pay, 99 cases of family pension, while 27, 26 and 12 were about appointment against quota reserved for the children of employees (BS-1 to 5), appointment against quota for the disabled and transfer of the PPO respectively.
After investigation, 57 per cent were complaints wherein the grievances were addressed; in 33 per cent of the cases wherein the views of the agencies were upheld, and for 5 per cent complaints, the directions were issued but implementation was still pending. In 2008, 386 directions were pending implementation, while in 2009, the bar had risen to 464. Under this head, Local Government and Community Development Department is leading with 127 directions awaiting implementation. The Education Department has 64, Irrigation and Power 50, Board of Revenue 46, Health Department 36, Communication and Works 18, while Police and other departments have 10 and 67 directions yet to implement.
Out of total 11,672 complaints – excluding 1485 which related to federal/private matters where departments were not mentioned – received by the Ombudsman, the Education Department (excluding Universities having 246 complaints, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education 241) led with 2383 applications, and followed by the Police with 1755. The third on the list is the revenue administration/DORs, which had 1307 complainants. The other departments had a tally of 926 LG&CD, 752 Health, 507 Irrigation and Power, 378 C&W, 345 Accountant General Punjab, 323 Benevolent Fund Boards, 216 Water and Sanitation Agencies, 192 Bait-ul-Maal, 188 Agriculture, 185 District Governments,. 168 Excise and Taxation, 137 Home/Jails/Prisons/Civil Defence/Rescue, 130 Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, 126 Anti-Corruption Establishment, 119 Development Authorities, 113 HUE&PHE, 101 TEVTA, 89 Food, 83 Population Welfare, 67 Livestock and Dairy Development, 66 Auqaf, Religious and Minority Affairs, 60 Zakat and Usher, 56 Punjab Board of Technical Education, 50 Transport, 48 Social Welfare and Women Development, 45 Labour and Human Resource, 45 Punjab Public Service Commission, 30 PESSI, 26 Cooperatives, 25 Services and General Administration Department, 24 Information, Culture and Youth Affairs, 22 Industries, 18 Environment Protection, 14 Mines and Minerals, 11 MPDD, 10 Prosecution, 9 Parks and Horticulture, 8 Finance, 7 Planning and Development, 4 each for Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Punjab Text Book Board, 3 each for Sports and Museum, and 2 each for Punjab Small Industries Cooperation and Tourism and Resort Development.