Guide
Occupied land,
and the court built for it
Pakistan has a court that hears one kind of case only: property disputes where one of the parties lives abroad. It was set up by a law from 2024. This page shows who it is for, what happens in what order, and how much of it you can do without travelling.
Where this applies This page covers land and buildings in Islamabad Capital Territory, and the court set up there for owners who live abroad. Whether a court like this one covers the place your land is in is a separate question, and one for your advocate.
Whether this court is yours
Three things decide it. What you hold, how long you are away, and where the land is.
The first is a document. A Pakistani passport counts, and so do a CNIC, a NICOP, a Pakistan Origin Card and an Overseas Pakistanis Foundation membership card.
The second is time. You have to be living, working or studying abroad for more than one hundred and eighty-two days in a tax year. Permanent or temporary makes no difference.
The third is the land. It has to be immovable property, so land or a building, and it has to lie in Islamabad Capital Territory. That is how far this court reaches.
Where it does reach, it takes the case on its own. A property dispute with an overseas Pakistani on one side belongs to this court, and not to the ordinary civil courts.
The order it happens in
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The petition is filed
It has to say what you own, who is holding the property, what it is worth, and what rent or profits the other side has taken.
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Notice goes out
The court fixes a date no more than ten days away, and orders the notice served several ways at once. One of them is a copy fixed to the property itself.
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The other side asks for leave to defend
They cannot defend the case without it, and the court decides that request within fifteen days.
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Judgment within ninety days
The ninety days run from the day leave to defend is granted, not from the day you file.
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The decree turns into enforcement
Fifteen days after the decree, and without a separate application from you.
Note Either side can appeal to the High Court within fifteen days, and the High Court has ninety days to decide.
While the case runs
Once the notices are out, the other side may not sell the property, mortgage it, or hand possession to anyone. A transfer made anyway has no legal effect.
The court can go further. It can order them not to deal with the property at all, attach it, hand possession to you, or put a receiver in charge of it.
It can make that order against someone who bought the property in breach of the ban, and against someone holding it in another person’s name.
Doing it from where you are
You do not have to file it yourself. The petition can come from you, or from someone you have authorised to act for you.
How a power of attorney is signed and attested
If you ask for it, the court arranges for you to take part in the proceedings by video link.
Evidence can be given through the Pakistani high commission, embassy or consulate, with an official there supervising it.
The law also requires rules for filing and hearings by electronic means. Ask your advocate what is running today.
What to ask before you agree
- Does my land fall inside the area this court covers, and if not, which court hears it?
- Do the documents I hold make me an overseas Pakistani under this law?
- I already have a case running in another court. Does it belong here instead?
- What can you do without me travelling, and what needs me there?
- What is your fee, and what is not included in it?
More in Land and property
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Also relevant
Words you will meet
- qabza
- Someone occupying land that is not theirs.
- overseas property court
- The court set up for property disputes where one of the parties lives abroad.
- possession
- Holding the land, whether or not you own it.
- Islamabad Capital Territory
- The area the federal law covers.