KP to Appoint An Ombudsman for Harassment Cases in the Province

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is finally ready to appoint an official who will solely be dedicated to look over the cases that are reported under the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act. The amendment regarding the new official’s appointment was approved this Tuesday.

The New Amendment

A meeting headed by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak took place where the amendments to the act were approved. The meeting was attended by many cabinet members, chief secretary and administrative secretaries.

The goal of the new amendment is to define ground rules and procedures for selection of the ombudsperson. They further defined the rules under which he will be looking over and examining the reported cases.

Even though the protection act was passed in 2010, there was no official dedicated to look over the cases specifically until this September, when the court finally sent out the order of appointment.

Originally, when the act was passed, the definition of the appointment of the ombudsperson was very vague. There were no proper requirements or procedures identified in the Act.

The appointment of new ombudsman

• The new official who will be appointed for the job will be put under scrutiny by a committee which will be chaired by the Chief Secretary. The other members of the committee will consist of secretaries from various departments such as finance, welfare law etc.
• The appointment will be made for three years.
• The official will have access to all the perks of a BPS-21 officer.
• The regularization of the employees will be done with the help of provincial assembly.