Punjab Property Tribunals Approved

The Punjab Property Ownership (Amendment) Act has formally come into force, following which the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court (LHC), Justice Aalia Neelum has designated additional sessions judges for inclusion in the Property Tribunals to be set up according to the law across the 36 districts of Punjab. Each district will have one additional sessions judge designated as the property tribunal. The names have been added to a list and forwarded to the provincial government.

The Punjab Property Ownership (Amendment) Act was introduced to tackle illegal land occupation cases in the province. The idea behind the law is to fast track the resolution of such cases through the setup of specialized Property Tribunals. The tribunals will hear and decide cases of illegal property occupation. They will utilize police assistance to recover occupied properties and impose severe fines and prison terms ranging from 3-10 years on convicted offenders.

Committees headed by Deputy Commissioners (DC) have compiled recommendations against land encroachments and forwarded them to the tribunals for further action already. The LHC has also transferred 575 cases pertaining to land encroachment to the tribunals for hearing.