Rawalpindi: The government has issued a gazette notification introducing legal and procedural changes aimed at reducing long-standing delays in property and ancestral inheritance cases across Punjab.
Certified copies of the newly notified law and standard operating procedures (SOPs) have been circulated to district and sessions judges, revenue department officers, commissioners, deputy commissioners, additional deputy commissioners (revenue), patwar circles and tehsildars to ensure effective and uniform implementation.
Under the new framework, hearings in inheritance and property partition cases will be conducted electronically instead of relying on traditional paper-based files. Litigants will be able to access case details and hearing schedules online from their homes.
The notification significantly shortens the time limit for deciding inheritance-related partition cases from 180 days to 60 days. If a revenue officer fails to decide a case within the stipulated period, it will automatically be transferred to the assistant commissioner. In addition, legal heirs across Punjab will be able to mutually divide inherited property through a simplified process.
To further speed up dispute resolution, cases may be referred to mediation committees. The time limit for filing appeals has been fixed at 30 days, while appellate authorities are also required to decide appeals within 30 days. The new law eliminates procedural bottlenecks and bars appeals against interim orders.
These changes have been introduced through amendments to the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1967.
Commenting on the development, District Bar Association President Tariq Mahmood Sajid Awan said the success of the new law would depend on its effective implementation. He pointed out that despite the earlier legal requirement to decide cases within 180 days, many inheritance disputes continued for up to a decade.
According to official estimates, nearly one million cases related to property and ancestral land disputes are currently pending across Punjab in courts, revenue authorities and boards, with many unresolved for one to five years. Awan urged the government to issue immediate directions for the disposal of pending cases within 40 days, warning that failure to clear the backlog could delay the hearing of new cases by several years.
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