Consumer courts in Punjab closed, cases shifted to Session Courts

LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) – Consumer courts in 17 districts of Punjab have been abolished, and their cases transferred to session courts.

Judges previously assigned to the consumer courts have been instructed to report to the Lahore High Court.

The Lahore High Court issued a notification after amendments were made to the Punjab Consumer Protection Act 2025 and with the approval of Chief Justice Alia Neelum, the District Judicial Services DG issued the notification.

According to the notification, session judges and additional session judges are now authorised to handle cases that were previously under the jurisdiction of the consumer courts. Each district’s District and Session Judge will now act as the administrative judge for the former consumer courts.

District and session judges will have the authority to manage both new consumer cases and those that were ongoing in the abolished consumer courts.

Under the administration of former Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, 11 consumer courts were established in 2007 to protect consumers. Later, the number of courts increased to 17. However, the current Pakistan Muslim League (N) government in Punjab viewed these courts as a financial burden on the national treasury and decided to abolish them by amending the law.

The affected districts include Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Mianwali, Layyah, Bhakkar, Multan, Bahawalpur, DG Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, and Sahiwal.

Consumer cases from these districts will now be heard in the session courts.

Judges from consumer courts, such as Shamshad Ali Rana from Sialkot, Muhammad Mazhar Saleem from Gujranwala, and Imran Raza Naqvi from Sargodha, have been directed to report to the High Court.