ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken serious notice of the inaction of officers regarding citizens’ complaints lodged on the Pakistan Citizen Portal app especially those complaints related to distribution or demarcation of any inherited lands without following proper lawful procedure.
According to the informed sources, most of such complaints had come from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on which Prime Minister has taken serious notice and directed to set up a five-member committee headed by a grade 20 officer or a joint secretary.
The five-member committee would “conduct performance evaluation and submit their reports within 30 days”.
The complainants submitted that their complaints were disposed of without proper inquiry, satisfactory reply, and documentary evidence, adding that the departments took “unnecessary time” in addressing complaints and the decision to resolve complaints was taken by “unconcerned officials”.
They, while expressing their dissatisfaction over the manner, said their lands they had inherited and sought their lawful demarcation to establish their boundaries were not properly done.
They alleged the revenue staff that has been tasked by the seniors to carry out demarcation of land of any complainant do not calculate share of the complainant land as per the established lawful procedure which is done on the basis of 272 square feet per Marla.
They further alleged that revenue officials randomly measure the particular piece of land based on some Khasra numbers without following the formula of 272 square feet per Marla.
The Prime Minister directed the authorities concerned to ensure that decisions with regard to the resolution of a complaint on the Pakistan Citizen’s Portal were approved by the competent authority.
The directions were also conveyed to the provincial authorities in a letter from the Prime Minister Office, which reiterated that any official or a focal person was not authorised to resolve or drop a complaint until the same has been approved by the authority competent to do so.
The letter said that no negligence would be tolerated in the resolution of public complaints. It stressed that the administrative head of the organisation concerned would be held responsible for quality of complaint resolution processes.
According to the document, with a view to ensuring quality disposal of complaints received on the PCP some officers’ dashboards on the portal were evaluated.
“The quality of the disposal of complaints as well as the response indicated that the decisions regarding resolution of the complaints had been taken at the level of the lower subordinate/dashboard handlers,” it stated.
“Thus, it is presumed that the dealing persons were neither competent nor empowered by the concerned authority to properly resolve complaints.
Resultantly, the quality of complaints/resolution had largely been compromised and questions of dissatisfaction were being raised both by the public as well as at the level of this office.”
The letter clarified that a focal person/dashboard handler, holding a portfolio wherein he/she was competent in his/her official capacity to decide a case, was authorised to resolve a complaint on the PCP.
In case, no formal authorisation was granted to any complaint’s dealing officer/official/handler, it would be presumed to have been granted and administrative head of the concerned organisation should be held responsible for the quality of complaint resolution processes.
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government launched the portal on October 28, 2018. In February, it was declared the second best government mobile application in the world at the World Government Summit.