*ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday issued directives forremoval of Federal Ombudsman for Protection against Harassment of Women atthe Workplaces Kashmala Tariq’s message from a booklet.*
“The Registrar of the office of the Ombudsman is directed to remove theintroductory message of the learned Ombudsman from the Booklet because itis misleading and contrary to the Act of 2010,” ruled an IHC benchcomprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah.
He gave this verdict on a number of petitions challenging the ombudsman’spowers to entertain certain cases.
The booklet stipulates laws and rules relating to protection againstwomen’s harassment at the workplaces.
“The introductory remarks of the learned Ombudsman in the Booklet furtheraffirms that the expression ‘harassment’ has been grossly misinterpreted byextending the meaning beyond the definition contained in section 2(h) ofthe Act of 2010,” reads the verdict.
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“The introductory remarks of the ombudsman in the Booklet are misleadingand in violation of the legislative intent in enacting the Act of 2010.”
The bench observed all the cases at hand involved acts, attitudes, conductor gestures that are not of a sexual nature and therefore, did not fallwithin the jurisdiction of the ombudsman who should not have entertainedthe theses complaints.
