LAHORE: The Punjab government on Friday announced setting up a committee in every district to resolve land disputes, following the promulgation of the Punjab Protection of Ownership of Immovable Property Ordinance 2025.

Presiding over a meeting, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said that no one would now snatch anyone’s land in the province as the state was standing by every weak person. She said that whoever owned a property, had a right to possess it.

She said that for a common man, a small property or land was like a whole universe, but unfortunately the land mafia encroached upon it. “We will deal with this mafia after the promulgation of the Punjab Protection of Ownership of Immovable Property Ordinance 2025,” she said.

The CM announced to establish dispute resolution committees for petitioners who had been going to courts for years to reclaim their land. She said that every possession case in Punjab would now be decided by the dispute resolution committees in 90 days. Appeal against the decision of the committee would be heard by a special tribunal headed by a retired judge of the high court, who would also be bound to decide the appeal within 90 days, she said.

The meeting was briefed that under the new justice system in Punjab, the dispute resolution committee would resolve the issue of possession of a private property even before going to court.

The convener of the six-member district settlement committee would be the deputy commissioner, while the DPO and other officials would also be involved in the process. The committee would also be bound to recover land from the encroachment mafia within 24 hours after the decision of the case.

The meeting had also set a target of making the dispute resolution committees functional within 30 days.

The meeting reviewed recommendations to hire the Pera force to recover land from those who had encroached upon public property. A proposal regarding digital records and social media live streaming to ensure transparency was also considered in the meeting.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2025