07-11-2009, 06:08 PM
On the appointment of Dr. Shoaib Suddle as the Tax Ombudsman a few letters have appeared raising eye brows as to why a Cop has been appointed on a specific professional assignment which is as a matter of principle domain of Judges. Appreciating Dr. Suddleâs Ph.D in criminology and his reading thesis with white collar crime appears to be the merit for his selection. Dr. Suddle performed excellent while in Karachi. Some critics are of the view as to how a cop can justify the business complaints without tax administration and judicial knowledge. These critics also mention that earlier on the Sindh Ombudsman similarly a Police Officer was appointed.
It is my firm belief that it is not any profession, any rule, any law or any procedure which provides justice but the man sitting on the chair. If the sitting man is blessed with God gifted public spirit ability he would interpret the same rule/law/procedure from the public welfare point. If he is deprived of this quality, he would interpret the same rule/law rigidly to control the public. The example is of late Mr. Justice Sardar Mohammad Iqbal. The prescribed procedure allowed the Government Department to file a revision appeal before the Federal Ombudsman and not to a complainant. The âmanâ [Justice Sardar Iqbal] was blessed by ALLAH with public spirit. He stated as an Ombudsman he can not accept such a law which gave a right to one but not to the other. He started accepting revision appeals from aggrieved complainants too. Seeing his determination, no body in the helm of affairs could raise any objection to his this decision. Mr. S.M. Munir was a bureaucrat but the candle of true fair justice he lighted as the first Sindh Ombudsman can not be forgotten. He was not a judge, did not have any formal legal education as far as I know but he delivered justice much much better than some judges. Space does not allow otherwise I may quote here for an example the story of one single arms licence complaint in which what a marvelous decision keeping in view the universal doctrine of natural justice S.M. Munir declared while on the same issue to the same complainant a really shameful decision a Judge delivered. In our police Cops too have shown exemplary performance. Generally as a fashion we say the police is corrupt. I do not agree to it. In every department there are black sheep. It is another matter in our police ratio is high but still there are men and officers who are to their core honest and judicious, are suffering in poverty but have not compromised with their faith.
A cop was appointed as the Sindh Ombudsman but the âManâ not the Cop could not deliver. What is the state of affair can be judged from one single self explanatory example. The Sindh Ombudsman signed a Decision on 28.04.2008 but his Regional Director Hyderabad working under him dispatched for distribution to the parties on 07.05.2009 ie., after more than one year. This was dispatched on the day when My Lordship Mr. Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Choudhary addressing the advocates was announcing that delivery of justice would be âspeedyâ. One year in merely âdispatchâ of a copy of the decision â really a speedy justice. Not merely interesting but also a point for the nation to weep is the manner in which this decision copy was âdispatchedâ which showed the Regional Director/Office does not posses even the basic office working knowledge. The performance of the Sindh Ombudsman Office in my experience has deteriorated too much. But it is not due to a Cop but for reason of the âmanâ who today matters. Early this year in the National Assembly voices were raised as to how the Federal Ombudsman had become ineffective against which Parliamentarian Affairs Minister at the same time as is usual announced that a Task Force for this purpose was being formed. To me there needs no spending on any task force as reason of ineffectiveness is clear namely âthe manâ. Last week very senior intellectual Dr. Aysha Siddiqui highly praised the Islamabad Traffic Police. She said the same thing namely the leadership (the man) of ITP.
PS I quoted above how late Mr. Justice Sardar Iqbal as an ombudsman did not agree to the written procedure giving right of appeal to an unsatisfied Government department defendant but not to an unsatisfied complainant. He termed this procedure as one sided and started accepting revision appeals from unsatisfied complainants too. The âmanâ who came on the chair after him, like Mr. Justice Aslam Riaz, Mr. Justice S.A. Shakoor etc to name a few fortunately again were public spirited who believed on principles of natural justice and followed the suit of Justice Sardar Iqbal. So many times I filed revision appeals before them, got heard sometime result got revered etc. A few months back I filed my revision appeal with the Federal Ombudsman being not satisfied with his decision in the case of Sui gas charges. Just today I have been informed that the Federal Ombudsman can not review his findings. It is the âmanâ sitting on the chair not the rules.
It is my firm belief that it is not any profession, any rule, any law or any procedure which provides justice but the man sitting on the chair. If the sitting man is blessed with God gifted public spirit ability he would interpret the same rule/law/procedure from the public welfare point. If he is deprived of this quality, he would interpret the same rule/law rigidly to control the public. The example is of late Mr. Justice Sardar Mohammad Iqbal. The prescribed procedure allowed the Government Department to file a revision appeal before the Federal Ombudsman and not to a complainant. The âmanâ [Justice Sardar Iqbal] was blessed by ALLAH with public spirit. He stated as an Ombudsman he can not accept such a law which gave a right to one but not to the other. He started accepting revision appeals from aggrieved complainants too. Seeing his determination, no body in the helm of affairs could raise any objection to his this decision. Mr. S.M. Munir was a bureaucrat but the candle of true fair justice he lighted as the first Sindh Ombudsman can not be forgotten. He was not a judge, did not have any formal legal education as far as I know but he delivered justice much much better than some judges. Space does not allow otherwise I may quote here for an example the story of one single arms licence complaint in which what a marvelous decision keeping in view the universal doctrine of natural justice S.M. Munir declared while on the same issue to the same complainant a really shameful decision a Judge delivered. In our police Cops too have shown exemplary performance. Generally as a fashion we say the police is corrupt. I do not agree to it. In every department there are black sheep. It is another matter in our police ratio is high but still there are men and officers who are to their core honest and judicious, are suffering in poverty but have not compromised with their faith.
A cop was appointed as the Sindh Ombudsman but the âManâ not the Cop could not deliver. What is the state of affair can be judged from one single self explanatory example. The Sindh Ombudsman signed a Decision on 28.04.2008 but his Regional Director Hyderabad working under him dispatched for distribution to the parties on 07.05.2009 ie., after more than one year. This was dispatched on the day when My Lordship Mr. Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Choudhary addressing the advocates was announcing that delivery of justice would be âspeedyâ. One year in merely âdispatchâ of a copy of the decision â really a speedy justice. Not merely interesting but also a point for the nation to weep is the manner in which this decision copy was âdispatchedâ which showed the Regional Director/Office does not posses even the basic office working knowledge. The performance of the Sindh Ombudsman Office in my experience has deteriorated too much. But it is not due to a Cop but for reason of the âmanâ who today matters. Early this year in the National Assembly voices were raised as to how the Federal Ombudsman had become ineffective against which Parliamentarian Affairs Minister at the same time as is usual announced that a Task Force for this purpose was being formed. To me there needs no spending on any task force as reason of ineffectiveness is clear namely âthe manâ. Last week very senior intellectual Dr. Aysha Siddiqui highly praised the Islamabad Traffic Police. She said the same thing namely the leadership (the man) of ITP.
PS I quoted above how late Mr. Justice Sardar Iqbal as an ombudsman did not agree to the written procedure giving right of appeal to an unsatisfied Government department defendant but not to an unsatisfied complainant. He termed this procedure as one sided and started accepting revision appeals from unsatisfied complainants too. The âmanâ who came on the chair after him, like Mr. Justice Aslam Riaz, Mr. Justice S.A. Shakoor etc to name a few fortunately again were public spirited who believed on principles of natural justice and followed the suit of Justice Sardar Iqbal. So many times I filed revision appeals before them, got heard sometime result got revered etc. A few months back I filed my revision appeal with the Federal Ombudsman being not satisfied with his decision in the case of Sui gas charges. Just today I have been informed that the Federal Ombudsman can not review his findings. It is the âmanâ sitting on the chair not the rules.
