Unauthorised colonies: Delhi LG approves urbanisation of 79 villages, seeks withdrawal of cases

Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Wednesday directed officials to withdraw cases registered under section 81 of the Land Reforms Act concerning unauthorised colonies.

Several other steps were taken by him for the implementation of PM-UDAY (Prime Minister-unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojna) to confer ownership rights to the residents of over 1700 unauthorised colonies in Delhi.

Section 81 of Delhi Land Reforms Act penalises use of land for any purpose other than agriculture and connected activities.

Urbanisation of 79 villages to facilitating ownership rights to the residents of unauthorised colonies there was also approved by Baijal.

"Major steps to implement PM-UDAY (PM-Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojna) approved today. 1. Withdrawal of cases u/s 81 DLR act falling within the UCs(unauthorised colonies. 2. Urbanisation of 79 villages where UCs are located," Baijal tweeted.

"These decisions will facilitate conferring/recognising ownership rights in UCs (unauthorised colonies) under PM-UDAY & trigger planned redevelopment with improved civic amenities and enable access to loans/mortgages," he said in another tweet.

Urbanisation of 79 rural villages where unauthorised colonies are located, under Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act 1957, will take them out of the ambit of Delhi Land Reforms act which imposes several restrictions on land use, a statement from the LG office said.

Also, declaration of these rural villages as urbanised under Section 507 of DMC Act will enable Delhi Development Authority to frame development plan so that the local bodies can provide civic and community facilities in the unauthorised colonies, it added.

Land owners who had utilised their private agriculture land for housing purpose were affected by Section 81 of Land Reforms Act, as most of the unauthorised colonies exist on such private lands, it said.

The decision to withdraw cases under Section 81 of Land Reforms Act will speed up planned development in the unauthorised colonies and facilitate residents of these colonies to possess clear property titles, access to basic amenities, access to loan or mortgage, incentivised area development through liberalized development control norms, read the statement.

Clear title will also prevent fraud and forgery by introducing formal processes of property transfer and registration of titles, it said.

Under the PM-UDAY, the Union Cabinet has decided to recognise and confer ownership rights of the inhabitants of unauthorised colonies and notified NCT of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Regulations, 2019 for this purpose, it added.