The proposed amendment providing for the inclusion of the Office of the Ombudsman in the Constitution of Malta was discussed during a meeting of the House Business Committee on Wednesday on the Ombudsplan for 2007.

A letter sent on 27 December by the Ombudsman, Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Said Pullicino, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Leader of the House, the Opposition Leader and the Chairman of the House Business Committee of the House of Representatives was also discussed.

In his letter, the Ombudsman made the suggestion that the State should recognise the right of the individual to good administration and envisages its inclusion in Chapter II Declaration of Principles of the Constitution of Malta.

The Ombudsman said that this means that as such it shall not be enforceable in any court of law but the principle is nevertheless fundamental to the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the government to apply it when making laws.

During the meeting, the Justice and Home Affairs Minister expressed the view that the government will be giving serious consideration to this proposal.

In the letter, the Ombudsman states that the proposed bill, as now drafted, “is a marked improvement on the original” and that it is definitely more focused and wider in scope in so far as “it will allow the function of the Ombudsman to be extended by Act of Parliament to include the investigation of administrative acts by bodies that are not government controlled or in which the government does not have a controlling interest but which are considered to be providing a public service and this in so far as matters that strictly pertain to the provision of such service are concerned.”

The Ombudsman said that the Bill in effect extends the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman to investigate the administrative actions of authorities, commissions and other bodies established by the Constitution while rightly fully safeguarding their autonomy in the exercise of their constitutional functions.

He also suggests further enhancements to the bill by including another clause “that recognises the right of every individual to good administration” and that the legislator takes into account developments abroad to ensure that the Ombudsman’s constitutional function would not only allow him to promote the observance of fundamental human rights but also to assume an explicit mandate in this respect, if and when so required.