More cases for Ombudsman?
PA Wellington The Chief Ombudsman (Mr G. R. Laking) believes he should not make investigations only when complaints are made to his office.
In his annual report tabled in Parliament this week, he said the act establishing the Ombudsman’s office did not require that he should take action only after a complaint. It did not specify any guidelines under which he should take up an investigation at his own initiative. The Ombudsman was left to rely on his own judgment. "It has always seemed to me a good working rule that if public allegations of im-
propriety are made against an organisation within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction he should give serious thought to investigating them in the interests of the public and of the organisation concerned,” he said.
"If they are not promptly and satisfactorily rebutted, if it seems that they might have substance, and if they provoke sustained public controversy," there is, in .my view., a strong case for investigation. “Only if it turns out that some other form of independent inquiry is to be undertaken should the Ombudsman be dissuaded from intervention."
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Press, 6 August 1981, Page 11
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187More cases for Ombudsman? Press, 6 August 1981, Page 11
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