Bangladesh, Aug. 5 -- Bangladesh has yet to establish the Office of the Ombudsman, even 55 years after its independence, despite having both a constitutional provision and a law authorising the institution to investigate misconduct, negligence and abuse of power in public administration.Article 77 of the Constitution provides for the establishment of an ombudsman with the authority to investigate actions taken by ministries, public officials and statutory public bodies. Parliament also enacted the Ombudsman Act in 1980, but successive governments have not made the institution operational.

The issue recently reached the High Court after Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan filed a writ petition challenging the prolonged failure to appoint a...