Daily Times

President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday said the Federal Insurance Ombudsman was doing major work in building confidence among the general public to get speedy justice by following easy steps. The president said only few percent people knew about the ombudsman’s role mainly because of less marketing and awareness campaigns. He said approaching the ombudsman was the cheapest and most effective way to get speedy justice.

Addressing a Seminar titled ‘Insurance Ombudsman and Concept of Speedy Justice at the Doorstep’ here at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president said all the five ombudsmen including Federal Insurance Ombudsman, Federal Banking Ombudsman, Federal Tax Ombudsman, Federal Harassment Ombudsman and the Federal Ombudsman were working under his office. The subject Seminar ‘Insurance Ombudsman and Concept of Speedy Justice at the Doorstep’ is a series of seminars in which the high dignitaries of the insurance sector as well as from the business community were invited for their valuable views and vision for betterment and transparency in the insurance business.

President Alvi said due to his personal efforts, awareness among the people about the role of the Ombudsman had significantly increased. But still, he stressed the need to make more people aware of it. He also highlighted the role of media in creating awareness about the Ombudsmen’s role and responsibilities adding that the good decisions by the ombudsmen must be publicized in the national print, electronic and social media.

He said ignorance was not an excuse, therefore the people should know about various ways to get justice through alternative means. The president highlighted that in many cases the decisions remained pending for decades in the mainstream judiciary due to overburden of work and other flaws. Therefore, he called upon the people to utilize this channel which was relatively easy, more quick, and affordable for all. He said Alternative Dispute Resolution was the solution to reduce the burden on the mainstream judiciary. He also asked the insurance company owners to offer better products for the public to increase trust and remove doubts among the people about the insurance companies.

Generally, he said the perception of insurance among the general public was not up to the mark which needed to be improved by building trust among them. Federal Insurance Ombudsman Dr Khawar Jamil said the office of FIO was acting upon the concept of providing speedy justice. “We are trying to enhance our outreach to grassroots level and we are also endeavoring to provide maximum relief to the complainants by settling their issues in an amicable manner and through mutual settlement”, he added. He informed that during previous year the office had settled issues and provided relief worth of Rs 2.57 billion.