KARACHI: With the expansion of the insurance businesses in the country the complications are also on the rise and so are the complaints of policyholders. The number of complaints per year has increased to well over 25,000 whose claims have been rejected, but the action required to cope with the rising number of complaints is moving at a snail’s pace. Keeping in view the number of complaints the federal government had set up a dedicated office of an ombudsman, christened the Federal Insurance Ombudsman or FIO. The relevantly unknown institution has been given the task of providing relief to the policyholders who fall victim to insurance companies’ maladministration. Ironically, the domain of FIO remains limited to the private sector insurance companies only and the main public sector insurance company, State Life Insurance is not included in the fold of FIO, despite the fact, that the number of complaints against SLI stands at around 3,000 to 4,000 per year and policyholders are compelled to run from pillar to post to get their issues resolved. The government has initiated consultations with the stakeholders as part of redrafting of the legal framework order of the Insurance Ordinance 2000 with the aim to protect the interests of the insured in a better way and in line with international practices. In order to protect the interests of policyholders of public sector insurance companies the government needs to place State Life under the umbrella of FIO, besides, making Urdu compulsory for the larger interest of ordinary policyholders. To discuss the mandate and performance of FIO, Daily Times interviewed M. Raeesuddin Paracha, Federal Insurance Ombudsman about the inclusion of State Life Insurance under the domain of FIO, which is a dedicated and specialized institution. Paracha said “a proposal has already been sent to the Ministry of Law about three months ago to the effect. We are hopeful for a positive outcome for the policyholders”. Talking about FIO’s performance, Paracha said that his office had received 839 complaints during the period of 2015-16 of more than 40 private insurance companies for the settlement of claims. He agreed that the number of complaints was far less then the actual number of complaints policyholders are still facing. “FIO, despite the awareness campaigns, remains a relatively unknown institution. The FIO gave monetary relief to parties of Rs 410 million in the year under review against the cumulative claim amount of all complaints of Rs 1.8 billion. The FIO disposed off 465 complaints out of a total of 839, while 367 claims are still in process and 49 complaints were rejected, Paracha informed adding that in 80 percent of the cases the verdict was given in the favor of the complainant. During the year 2015-16, 35 representations were forwarded to the President of Pakistan for settlement of which 27 were decided, while in rest of the 20 cases the orders of FIO were upheld by the President. The institution of FIO plays an important role to redress grievances of policyholders, who fall victims of insurance companies and their agents. The gradual awareness about the FIO is yielding results which is evident from the fact that in year 2015; 120 percent more cases were lodged in comparison to the previous year, while the number has increased to 200 percent in 2016 in comparison to the previous year, Paracha said. “We are targeting 5,000 to 10,000 complaints over the next year”, he said, adding that the FIO provides free of cost and speedy justice in 60 to 90 days period. According to FIO in most of the cases, the decision was given in the first hearing as compared to a prolonged and costly process involved otherwise. The FIO has even resolved old pending cases in the light of Supreme Court’s ruling which clearly says that no justice will be denied on technical basis, FIO stated. Most of the complainants do not follow their cases because of the lengthy process and cost but FIO makes sure that people do not fall victim to the system, Paracha said. In most of the cases the policyholders do not read the terms and conditions that sometimes causes the rejection of their claims, he added. Presently the FIO is offering its services in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. However, opening of more offices are being considered in other cities of the country, including Azad Kashmir. The prime role of the FIO is to resolve disputes pertaining to maladministration, between insurance company and its policyholders. FIO exercises full autonomy and its orders can not be challenged under the ordinance, the institution is specialized in insurance matters.