RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday suspended an order of Ombudsperson appointing a local commission in a complaint of Dr Dalia Mahmood of King Edward Medical University against Vice Chancellor to visit the place of an alleged occurrence of sexual harassment to collect evidence and sought replies from the respondents by January 26.

The complainant accused Prof Dr Khalid Masud Gondal of causing sexual harassment to her at the workplace.

The ombudsperson appointed a local commission to collect the evidence to find the facts of the complaint after visiting the place of the alleged occurrence, which the woman challenged before the high court.

Her counsel Mian Dawood argued before the court that the ombudsperson appointed her legal consultant as a local commission and delegated her powers to him in violation of the mandate of “The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010” and the principles of fair trial.

He pointed out that sub-section 4 of section 10 of the Act empowered the ombudsperson only to enter any premises for the purpose of inspection or investigation.