The Ombudsman, former Chief Justice Joseph Said Pullicino, has welcomed the Mepa reform proposals dealing with the audit office, announced by the Prime Minister last week.
He suggested, however, that the proposed Planning Ombudsman should be termed the Planning and Environment Commissioner, and he should also have jurisdiction on environmental matters.
Referring to the proposal to replace the Mepa Audit Officer with a Planning Ombudsman within the Office of the Ombudsman, Judge Said Pullicino noted that on several occasions he had criticised the current set-up because it was unacceptable that an institution set up by law to review administrative action relied on the same agency whose operations were subject to its own scrutiny. All this would come to an end under the reform programme.
"These are radical changes that are bound to ensure full independence and autonomy to the Planning Ombudsman and the way in which this Office conducts its operations. At the same time, it is appreciated that these changes reflect a shift in the government's outlook and show a commitment to accept that a vital institution such as Mepa will be subjected in a most open and transparent manner to the scrutiny of an Office that is truly independent, with full powers to investigate its actions, including allegations of maladministration. This is therefore a step in the right direction that will assure full accountability," the Ombudsman said.
He said the functions of the Planning Ombudsman should explicitly extend also to the environment.
"In a situation where the Office of the Ombudsman is increasingly taking on a stronger profile as an umbrella institution that serves to guide several autonomous institutions for the scrutiny of administrative action, it is proposed that the official who is responsible for each review institution be given the designation of Commissioner rather than Ombudsman.
"In this way a clear distinction will be made between the respective roles and work of the Parliamentary Ombudsman and of the Commissioners who collaborate with him on specialised sectors. These arrangements would enable the establishment of a linear institutional framework and avoid any doubts that might arise in the minds of citizens," the Ombudsman said.
It was also essential that the Commissioner for Planning and the Environment (instead of the Planning Ombudsman) would operate in an autonomous and independent manner and that the Commissioner would be fully authorised to investigate and to reach a decision on all the technical aspects of matters that fall under his scrutiny.
Judge Said Pullicino said it should be ensured that all the provisions in the Ombudsman Act which bind the Ombudsman with regard to the method of his investigation and to established procedural rules should also bind the Commissioner. The Commissioner should be given the same powers as the Ombudsman under the Ombudsman Act insofar as access to information and the collection of evidence are concerned. These are powers that the Audit Officer currently does not possess.
The Ombudsman said that since, in terms of the reform, certain Mepa functions will revert to government departments or other authorities, it should be ensured that the jurisdiction of the Commissioner will extend over all administrative aspects associated with planning and the environment, regardless of the public body that is responsible for this action.
He insisted that while having no binding executive force, the final opinion of the Commissioner and his recommendations should be recognised and accepted by the administration as providing judgement on the propriety of the administrative action under scrutiny. The Commissioner should also have the right to report to Parliament.