Constitution

Part VI · Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits · Property, Contracts, Liabilities and Suits

Power to acquire property and to make contracts, etc

Article 173

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(1)

The executive authority of the Federation and of a Province shall extend, subject to any Act of the appropriate Legislature, to the grant, sale, disposition or mortgage of any property vested in, and to the purchase or acquisition of property on behalf of, the Federal Government or, as the case may be, the Provincial Government, and to the making of contracts.

(2)

All property acquired for the purposes of the Federation or of a Province shall vest in the Federal Government or, as the case may be, in the Provincial Government.

(3)

All contracts made in the exercise of the executive authority of the Federation or of a Province shall be expressed to be made in the name of the President or, as the case may be, the Governor of the Province, and all such contracts and all assurances of property made in the exercise of that authority shall be executed on behalf of the President or Governor by such persons and in such manner as he may direct or authorize.

(4)

Neither the President, nor the Governor of a Province, shall be personally liable in respect of any contract or assurance made or executed in the exercise of the executive authority of the Federation or, as the case may be, the Province, nor shall any person making or executing any such contract or assurance on behalf of any of them be personally liable in respect thereof.

(5)

Transfer of land by the Federal Government or a Provincial Government shall be regulated by law.

How to cite

In a petition
Article 173 of the Constitution
With heading
Article 173 of the Constitution (Power to acquire property and to make contracts, etc)
In full
Article 173, Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973

English text as amended up to 21 November 2025 (27th Amendment), published by Ministry of Law and Justice / National Assembly of Pakistan. The English text is authoritative. Official PDF, page 111