User:MJP2020

1.6.	Concept of Ombudsman: Ombudsman institution has close association with democracy, democratic development, governance and public administration. It is said that there should be easy mechanism of grievance redressal against misuse of discretionary power by the Government and the bureaucracy that operationalise policies and programmers of the Government. Development of democracy and its values gave rise to aspirations of the people. This obliviously led to their high expectations towards representatives and the Government. Similarly, the adoption of ‘welfare concept’ as inbuilt character of the governance placed heavy burden on Government to take care of their citizen which gives more discretionary powers to administrative system. This leads to corruption. When common man comes in contact with the Government and administration to get his day-today work done; may be about added tax, street lights or anything else, it gives rise to more grievances than the work done. According to Bernard Frank, “They range from simple clerical error to oppression, for e.g. unreasonable delay, injustice, administrative error, failure to carry out legislative purpose, abuse of discretion, lack of politeness, clerical error, oppression, lapse, negligence, inadequate investigation, unfair policy, partiality, failure to communicate, disrespect, maladministration, unfairness, unreasonableness, arbitrariness, arrogance, efficiency, violation of Law or regulation, abuse of authority, favoritism, errors, mistakes, carelessness, disagreement with discretionary decisions, proper motivation, irrelevant consideration, inadequate explanation, and all other act that are frequently inflicted upon the governed by those who govern, intentionally or unintentionally” (Benard;1976:134). In the above listed situation of grievances, redressal is often discriminatory. Justifying the needs of desirability of having an Ombudsman for England, Lord Shaw Cross rightly wrote in the preface to the Whyatt Report (1961), as follows- “The man of substance can deal with these situations. He is near to the establishment; he enjoys the status and possesses the influences which will cruse him the ear of those in authority. He can afford to pursue such legal remedies... as may be available. But, too often the little man, the ordinary humble citizen, is incapable of asserting himself” (The Redressal of Grievances- A Report; 1961: XIII). The main problem before the modern administrative system is how to provide good democratic framework in which people enjoy confidence. They can have easy access to redress off their grievances. It is equally important that such a system should be cheap, easily accessible, quick, impartial objective and independent. The appointment of Ombudsman is to meet this purpose. Many countries worldwide have adopted the institution of Ombudsman. The institution had its roots in the Swedish Constitution in 1809 (Dhawan; 1981: 169). Later, it was adopted by many countries and in recent years more countries are adopting this institution on their own. It has been also recommended by the International institutions like United Nation (UN), the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Development Bank as a means of ensuring good governance and better service delivery to the consumers.

1.6.1. Definition of Ombudsman: A) Caiden: “An institutionalized public conscience, the essence of what Governments ought to do; that is to cultivate the well-being of the citizen, the preservation of individual liberty and the equitable treatment of all the citizens by the public bureaucracy” (Norman and Singh; 1995:). B) The International Bar Association (1974): “An office mentions for by the constitution or by action of the legislature and headed by an independent high-level public official who is responsible to the legislature, who receives complaints from aggrieved persons against Government departments, agencies, officials and employees or who acts on his own motion, and who has the power to investigate, recommend corrective action, and issue reports” (Gottehrer; 2009:02).

1.6.2 .Meaning of Ombudsman: Ombudsman is a Swedish word which refers to a person who acts as a spokesman or representative of another person (Narsiman; 1971:24). According to Encyclopedia of America, Ombudsman is an independent public office unreasonable act, or delays by Government agencies. He investigates and reports his findings and recommends solution. In Swedish Public Law, Ombudsman means an appointee of the Parliament of Sweden for the supervision of the administration. In Norway and Denmark, it generally means that a person who has a public duty imposed on him which he must discharge. The English translation for Ombudsman is the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration. But, it is in the Swedish sense that the word Ombudsman is generally used and understood all over the globe. In short, Ombudsman is an officer who is appointed to receive complaint from citizens against abuses of authority for personal profit and unfair treatment meted out to public by Government departments.