Its objective is to edit and publish a comprehensive dictionary of the Urdu language.

On June 14, 1958, through a resolution of the then Ministry of Education, the Government of Pakistan announced the creation of an institution called "Urdu Development Board" to prepare a comprehensive dictionary of Urdu on the same standards and principles as the Oxford English Dictionary.

[3] In 2009, Pakistani feminist poet Fahmida Riaz was appointed as the Chief Editor of the Board.

[3] In 2016, Aqeel Abbas Jafari was appointed as the Chief Editor of the Board.

[6][7] Since 2019, the Board was not assigned another Chief Editor, and 37 out of the total 55 staff seats were vacant due to lack of funding.