The Office of the Ombudsman has issued a directive to the State Department for Lands and Physical Planning, giving it 60 days to resolve 206 pending complaints.
The order follows growing concerns over inefficiencies, delayed responses, and unaddressed grievances in the ministry’s operations.
A report by the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ), titled
Status of Administrative Justice and Access to Information Report (2012-2024)
, highlights the extent of the problem.
Since 2019, the Lands Ministry has received 392 complaints, making it the second most complained-about government institution. These cases account for 6.88% of all grievances reported to the commission.
According to the report, while 186 cases have been resolved, 206 remain unresolved. Some of these cases have been pending for up to 25 years, raising concerns about poor service delivery.
The majority of complaints involve delays in processing land documents, unresponsiveness from officials, and inefficiencies within the ministry.
In response, the Ombudsman has directed the ministry to clear all outstanding complaints within the given timeframe.
Additionally, the commission has recommended implementing a transparent system that allows the public to track the progress of their cases.
To improve efficiency, the commission has also called for a full audit of land registries.
It further urged the ministry to ensure that the digitization of land records through the Ardhisasa platform aligns with the existing land conversion manual to streamline the process.
Failure to comply with the directive could have consequences for the Principal Secretary for Lands.
"The Principal Secretary should process and resolve all the pending complaints within 60 days and provide a compliance report to the Commission on the same, failure to which the Commission shall give the office holder notice to show cause as to why he should not be declared unfit to hold public office," read the Commission's statement in part.
The directive places additional pressure on the Lands Ministry, which has long faced criticism over slow service delivery, corruption allegations, and inefficiencies in handling land documents.