' SHAHID KARIM, J.---This petition under Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 lays a challenge to the impugned order dated 19.3.2014 passed by the Provincial Ombudsman, Punjab.
2. This order shall also decide connected petitions W.P. No,25325 of 2013, which assails the order dated 30.8.2011 passed by the Provincial Ombudsman under similar circumstances as well as W.P.
No,2323 of 2015, which too assails the order of Provincial Ombudsman Punjab dated 19,9.2014.
3. The respondents have been served in the matter. However, none has appeared on behalf of the respondent No,4 in the instant petition (W.P. No,35029), the respondent No,4 Shumaila in W.P. No, 2323 of 2015 and the respondent No,1 Shafqat Perveen in W.P. No, 25325 of 2013 despite service of notices. They are proceeded against ex pane.
4. The common question of law raised in these petitions is that the petitioner is an insurance company and has been incorporated under a federal law and is managed and controlled by the Federal Government and, therefore, is not amenable to the jurisdiction of the Provincial Ombudsman. On this ground, the learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the impugned orders passed in these petitions are ultra vires and quoram non judice.
5. The question of law involved in these petitions is straightforward and does not admit of any complexity. The Provincial Ombudsman, Punjab exercises the jurisdiction under the Punjab Office of the Ombudsman Act, 1997. By section 9 of the Act, 1997, the jurisdiction of the Provincial Ombudsman, Punjab is confined to an agency and the term `agency' has been defined in the Act, 1997 to mean that: "Agency" means a Department, Commission or office of the Provincial Government or a statutory corporation or other institution established or controlled by the Provincial Government but does not include the High Court and courts working under the supervision and control of the High Court, and the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab and its Secretariat."
6. It is clear from a reading of the definition above that an agency is merely confined to any instrumentality of the Provincial Government and does not include any department of the Federal Government or the corporations set up under the federal law. There is no dispute that the petitioner is a statutory corporation established under Article 11 of the Life Insurance (Nationalization) Order, 1972 and is, therefore, beyond the periphery of powers of the Provincial Ombudsman, Punjab. This aspect escaped the attention of the Provincial Ombudsman, Punjab while passing the impugned orders. The impugned orders are clearly not sustainable having been passed without lawful authority.
7. In view of the above, these petitions are accepted. The impugned orders passed by the Provincial Ombudsman, Punjab in these petitions are set aside.