On the orders of Ombudsman Punjab Maj (retd) Azam Suleman Khan, the Punjab Benevolent Fund has released overdue educational scholarships, farewell, marriage and burial grants worth Rs 3.14 million to 59 applicants of various districts. A spokesman for the office of the Ombudsman Punjab reported this in a statement issued here on Tuesday. In a separate development, the local government & community development department (LG&CD) devised standard operating procedures for all union councils to ensure foolproof safety of public records, the spokesman stated. The step had been taken on a complaint of a Lahore-based woman who approached the ombudsman’s office to declare the fake divorce certificate null and void. The ombudsman Punjab took strict notice of it and directed the secretary local government & community development department to constitute an investigation committee and take measures to secure safety of public data and civil registration statistics stored in the government system could not be illegally altered, the spokesman said. Meanwhile, an inquiry committee had proposed to the federal higher education commission that irregularity of admissions in unapproved courses should be monitored. The step had been taken in response to a complaint of Umar Yusuf of Gujranwala who approached the ombudsman office for the issuance of a DMLS (Doctor of Medical Laboratory Science) degree, the spokesman said. The spokesman said the involvement of the ombudsman office had resulted in the payment of Rs 144,500 as ten per cent compensation for the loss of original file of a vehicle to Muhammad Zubair of Multan. The secretary union council Pindi Kalu had also been suspended under the PEEDA Act for issuing a duplicate birth certificate without record, the spokesman added.