It was described in 1969 by the paleontologist Abu Bakr based on a partial mandible from the Upper Siwaliks in Pakistan; the locality it was found at is estimated to be from the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene.

S. punjabiensis was a large cat with a short and broad snout that may have lived on open grasslands.

The first molar also retained enough of its structure for description: relative to the premolars, the anterior end is inclined towards the inside (like Panthera and unlike Acinonyx); the protoconid was longer and a cusp taller than the paraconid, with a deep valley between the two cusps; there is only faint indication of a talonid and no metaconid at all.

67/22, Bakr described Sivapardus punjabiensis as a cat with a short and broad snout similar to that of the cheetah-like Sivapanthera, larger in size than a leopard but smaller than a lion.

Other fauna known from the three Pabbi Hills localities (Sar-Dhok, Panjan Sher Shahana, and Kurla Sharif) are primarily herbivores and include proboscideans such as Elephas hysudricus, Elephas planifrons, and several species of Stegodon; the bovids Boselaphus namadicus, Proamphibos kashmiricus, Hemibos triquetricornis, Bos acutifrons, Bubalus palaeindicus, Bubalus platyceros, Kobus porrecticornis, Sivacobus patulicornis, Antilope sp., Sivatragus bohlini, Damalops and an indeterminate caprine; the cervids Metacervocerus punjabiensis and Rucervus; the giraffid Sivatherium giganteum; the hippopotamid Hexaprotodon sivalensis; rhinocerotids including Rhinoceros sivalensis, Rhinoceros sondaicus; and the equid Equus sivalensis.