LAHORE: Director General NAB Mirza Faran Baig and Senior Member Board of Revenue Punjab have said Punjab State Assets Task Force established to ensure recovery and transparent disposal of State land has recovered 25,444 Kanals of State land worth approximately Rs. 433 billion from illegal occupation and restored it to state ownership.
Addressing a joint press conference here, they said that Chief Minister Punjab is heading the initiative at the provincial level, while the Chairman NAB is leading it at the national level. Following the success of the Punjab model, a similar Task Force has already been established in Sindh, while the process of constituting one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is under way, they added.
The DG NAB stated that the successful operation in Punjab was carried out through effective inter-agency coordination with the Board of Revenue Punjab and district administrations, resulting in the recovery of vast tracts of State land from illegal occupation. He added that NAB Multan also demonstrated commendable performance in safeguarding State assets and combating encroachments, achieving notable successes through a series of targeted enforcement actions.
He further revealed that, in several cases, illegal occupation of State land had been facilitated through the misuse of ostensibly legitimate documentation. Investigations have also uncovered the involvement of certain revenue officials in facilitating encroachments on public land. Such officials, along with private individuals have been identified and will be proceeded against in accordance with the law.
DG NAB stated that the Bureau has achieved historic milestones with introducing reforms for accountability framework. Between 2023 and 2026, NAB secured record recoveries amounting to Rs. 15.6 trillion. During 2025 alone, NAB facilitated the return of Rs. 180 billion to more than 115,000 affectees. NAB Lahore secured recoveries worth Rs. 263.096 billion during 2025 and distributed recovered amounts among 61,700 claimants. NAB Lahore is currently investigating several large-scale public fraud cases involving 81,090 affectees, with estimated financial losses of Rs. 124 billion.
He further highlighted a number of institutional reforms introduced by NAB, including the establishment of the Accountability Facilitation Cell, Business Facilitation Cell, and Parliamentarians Facilitation Cell. Regular public hearings, e-Case Management System, digitisation of case records, and the deployment of AI-based investigative tools have significantly enhanced transparency and service delivery within the accountability regime.
Senior Member Board of Revenue Punjab Nabeel Javed stated that, as part of the broader national agenda of transparency and accountability, the Board of Revenue has also implemented key reforms, including digitization of land records, GIS-based land management systems, e-stamping and modern property transfer mechanisms.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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