LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif expressed strong concern on Tuesday on the suspension of the Punjab Protection of Ownership of Immovable Property Act, 2025 by the Lahore High Court (LHC), arguing that the move would “benefit encroachment and land-grabbing mafias”.
Maryam‘s statement issued by the CM’s Office comes a day after LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum issued an interim order suspending the operation of the newly enacted Punjab Protection of Ownership of Immovable Property Act, 2025, which empowers dispute resolution committees led by deputy commissioners to resolve property disputes.
The ordinance was approved by the Punjab chief minister on Oct 31 and mandates the resolution of land disputes within 90 days.
The law has been challenged in the LHC, about which Maryam argued that its enactment was aimed at providing “long-awaited relief to millions of citizens suffering from prolonged land and property disputes”.
“The legislation, for the first time, fixed a 90-day time frame for the resolution of land and property cases that have historically dragged on for years and even generations,” she said, terming the law a “major step” toward protecting ordinary citizens from powerful land grabbers and mafias.
Maryam emphasised that the “democratically elected Punjab Assembly had passed the law to free the public from the grip of influential land mafias”.
The legislation, she insisted, empowered citizens to safeguard their legally owned land and properties.
The legislation was “evidence-based and comprehensive”, covering both administrative and legal dimensions to ensure justice for the oppressed, the CM said.
Maryam further maintained that the LHC‘s decision to suspend the ordinance’s operation “is not in line with the settled principles laid down by the superior judiciary”.
Its suspension would “benefit encroachment and land-grabbing mafias”, and the public would perceive it as state patronage of such elements, she said.
The CM highlighted that progress in cases pertaining to land and property would often be stalled by stay orders for decades, and justice was being denied to rightful owners.
“This law was neither made for my personal benefit nor does its suspension harm me personally,” she said, adding that “real loss” from its suspension would be borne by the poor, widows, the helpless, and other marginalised citizens who were finally beginning to receive relief.
Maryam stressed that “legislation is the constitutional right of the provincial assembly and cannot be obstructed”.
Halting the new property law would “shatter the fragile hope of justice that had been rekindled among the poor and oppressed segments of society”, the CM said.
While Maryam has defended the law, LHC CJ Neelum expressed her disapproval of the law during the hearing on Monday, saying: “It appears that some people want to hold all powers”.
The judge had further observed that the new law had dismantled the civil setup, civil rights, and judicial supremacy.
“If it were up to the authorities, they would even suspend the Constitution,” she had said.
Questioning the purpose of the law, CJ Neelum had asked how a revenue officer could hand over the possession of a property in a matter pending before a civil court.
