Ombudsman: Concept and Genesis

Ombudsman is a quasi-judicial officer who act independently and non-

patricianly to perform his duty to supervise the administration. He performs the
duty of inquiry and investigation to deal with the special complaints from the
public against administrative injustice and maladministration. In essence, the
primary duty of an ombudsman is to investigate complaints and attempt to
resolve them, usually through recommendation or mediation. Since nation
prosperity typically depends on the proper and efficient functioning of the
administrative side of the nation, ensuring that no corruption takes place is of
significant value.

The Ombudsman plays an important role in tackling the issue of

corruption and in India: this role is efficiently played by the Lokpal at the centre
level and Lokayukta at the state level.

Introduction

The administrative wing of the democratic country has a major role to

play in its smooth administration both at Centre level and the state level. The
administrative authorities in democratic countries are manifested with vast
discretionary power for proper administration in the country. However, with
the ever-increasing wide discretionary power vested with administrative
authorities, it leaves a large room for abuse or misuse of power, resulting in
maladministration and corruption in the system.

The word Ombudsman originated from the Swedish word ‘ombuds’ that
means an officer a commissioner. In its special sense, it is a quasi-judicial
administrative authority i.e., the commissioner who has the duty of investigating
and reporting to Parliament on citizen complaints against the public servants or
public agencies. An Ombudsman has no legal powers except the power of
inquiry into mal-administration complaints made by the citizen.

In other words, the Ombudsman is a quasi-judicial officer of Parliament

whose primary functions is to investigate the complaint or allegation against the
public administration and expose the involved administrative or executive
officials. The main aim of the institution of ombudsman is to safeguard the
citizen of his country against misuse of the power of the administration. The
object is to control the administration and thus give protection to the citizen
injustice brought about by faulty administration.

Development in UK, US, and India

 The institution of the ombudsman was first developed in Sweden and
establish in 1809. In Sweden an ombudsman is vested with the power to
investigate a case on the complaints filed by a person or can take suo moto
cognizance of the allegation. This grants him the power to recommend to
parliament about its action against public officials and ministers against whom
complaints is received.

Development in UK

In England, the first ombudsman was established in 1967 through the

parliamentary commissioner act, is called ‘parliamentary commissioner.’ He
was appointed on the advice of the then Prime Minister with a tenure of 65
years and was envisaged a permanent appointee under the act with the security
of High Court Judge. The Parliamentary Commissioner Act, 1967, confers
jurisdiction of the Parliamentary Commission jurisdiction only on the central
government and only over the department stated in the Second Scheduled to
Act.

In 1947 a law was enacted by the British parliament to enhance the

jurisdiction of parliamentary commissioner to the level of local government as
well. After its enactment, the local councillors can lodge complaints against the
local government body and seek grievance redressal. However, complaints
against the administration can’t be made directly to the ombudsman but can be
made to the ombudsman but can be made to the ombudsman only through the
members of the House of common,

Development in USA

The USA doesn’t have unified federal ombudsman service. Nonetheless,

the role of handling complaint against federal authorities can be seen to some
extent being unofficially incorporated into the role of the US Member of
Congress. Since 1963, in every session of the Congress, a bill has been
introduced to establish an institution akin to Ombudsman is considered by the
member as a drag on their status and power.

The member considered the ombudsman power their sole prerogative to

represent their respective constituencies and handle citizen’s grievances. The
state-level ombudsman was introduced in 1967.