Lahore - Chief justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan on Wednesday took notice of the undue delay in the issuance of succession certificates in case lying pending with civil court across the Punjab province despite the issuance of an LHc order for the purpose.

The Lahore High Court had earlier issued directives to the court below to issue succession certificates within a week after the completion of evidence and other proceedings in the case pending before the lower courts. However, the order had not been implemented in letter and spirit so far. As a result, the chief justice took notice of the persistent delay due to the apathy of the civil judges. The LHC chief justice as sough reports from all the district and sessions judges regarding the pending application of succession certificates within three days.

The legal proceedings to get succession/inheritance certificate is considered mentally and physically embarrassing. Such proceedings are typically prolonged for at least a year showing the slow litigation in the province. If an application for succession certificates takes a year to be decided, a property dispute that starts from the civil court to the Supreme Court typically takes over 20 years.

Regarding procedure for filing inheritance suits, an application, covering movable and immoveable assets, for the grant of a succession certificate is filed by the legal heirs of the deceased before a civil court. These moveable assets include bank accounts, shares, savings certificates etc. For transferring the deceased’s immoveable properties, the legal heirs have to file a separate legal application - Suit for Declaration - before the civil court which also takes a long time to be decided.