Punjab’s special courts for overseas Pakistanis’ property: what changed, and what did not
A 2025 law, judges designated across the districts, and a separate scheme suspended by the Lahore High Court. Here is the current position, stated carefully.
Property · By Khalil Ahmad Bhullah, Founding Partner · 22 September 2026 · Pakistani law only
If you have searched for help with a property dispute in Punjab in the last year, you will have seen two very different promises: special courts for overseas Pakistanis, and land returned by a Deputy Commissioner’s committee within ninety days. They are different things, they came from different laws, and only one of them is straightforwardly in operation.
The special courts
Punjab legislated in 2025 to create special courts for property disputes involving overseas Pakistanis, and in November 2025 district and additional district judges were designated as special court judges across the province. The intention is straightforward: keep these disputes out of the ordinary civil queue and decide them faster, with provision for owners who cannot attend in person.
For an overseas owner, the practical significance is forum. Whether your matter belongs before a special court depends on the facts — who is in possession, what the record shows, and what relief you actually need. That is a decision to take with your documents in front of you, not from a headline.
The scheme that was suspended
Separately, the Punjab Protection of Ownership of Immovable Property Act, 2025 set up Dispute Resolution Committees led by Deputy Commissioners, with a ninety-day timeline for deciding land-grabbing complaints. In December 2025 the Lahore High Court suspended its operation, and the provincial government has been revising the framework since.
You will still find articles and social media posts describing that route as if it were running. Before anyone files on your behalf under it, ask them to confirm what is actually functioning in your district today. We check that before we advise, and we say so in writing.
What has not changed
The established routes are unaffected and, in most files we open, still do the heavy lifting:
- A complaint under the Illegal Dispossession Act, 2005, before the Sessions Court, where possession can be restored during the trial.
- A summary suit for possession under section 9 of the Specific Relief Act, 1877, where the dispossession is within the last six months.
- A civil suit for declaration, cancellation of forged instruments and possession, with an injunction to freeze further transfers.
- Complaints to the Overseas Pakistanis Commission, Punjab, which can push a district administration to act.
The practical advice
New laws help, but they do not replace evidence. What decides an overseas owner’s case is still the record — the fard, the mutation chain, the society file — and how quickly an injunction stops the property being moved on again. Get those in order, then choose the forum.
Our property disputes page sets out the routes in full, and the overseas desk covers the rest of what we handle from abroad.
Questions we get on this.
They were created for property disputes involving overseas Pakistanis in Punjab. Whether your particular matter belongs there depends on the facts and the relief you need; it is the first thing we assess.
Treat claims about that route with caution. The committee scheme under the 2025 ownership-protection law was suspended by the Lahore High Court in December 2025 and has been under revision since. We confirm the current position in your district before advising.
No. These are Punjab laws. Property in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Islamabad or Azad Jammu & Kashmir follows that jurisdiction’s own forums, which is why we ask for the district first.