Illegal Delhi colonies protected for another 3 years: what the Bill passed in Parliament says

Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri told Lok Sabha that it was necessary to extend the provision to protect the 40 lakh residents of unauthorised colonies in Delhi from “inhumane” orders.

What is the background of this law (and its amendments)?

Following orders passed by the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi began a sealing drive in 2006 against unauthorised constructions in the city. The drive, which targeted lakhs of residents of 1,731 unauthorised colonies, was politically unpopular — so, the UPA government of Manmohan Singh enacted The Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 to protect certain kinds of unauthorised constructions for a period of one year.

Thereafter, the protections were extended one year at a time until 2011, through amendments passed by Parliament. In 2011, The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second Act came into force, which gave protections for a period of three years until December 31, 2014.

Since then, the NDA government has amended the Act three times to extend the protections for three years at a time.

What does the amendment passed on Tuesday say?

The amendment replaces the year 2023 with 2026, extending the protections for another three years. Unauthorised constructions up to June 1, 2014 are covered.

In the statement of objects and reasons, the Act says that orderly arrangements have to be made for the relocation and rehabilitation of residents of slums and jhuggi-jhompri clusters, unauthorised colonies, urban villages and farmhouses with construction beyond what is permissible, as per the 2011 Act.

It recalls that The NCT of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Act, 2019 conferred ownership rights to residents of unauthorised colonies, and that development control norms for these colonies were notified on March 8, 2022.

This “process of conferring the ownership rights to the residents of unauthorised colonies and action as per the Development Control Norms for unauthorised colonies is under progress and will take time,” the Act says.

So what happens here onward?

While the protections have been extended for years now, the question remains: how long will the status quo continue, and will there be another extension in 2026?

According to the Minister, the work on conferring ownership rights that started in 2019 was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. He told Lok Sabha that about 40-50 lakh individuals live in unauthorised colonies, which means 8-10 lakh households could be eligible for ownership rights.

So far, only 4 lakh registrations have taken place, and conveyance deeds have been issued in just 20,881 cases. “Clearly more work needs to be done,” the Minister said.

The draft Master Plan Delhi-2041 is in the “final” stages, and once notified, it will have details of development norms for unauthorised colonies, slums etc, he added. The Master Plan was passed by the Delhi Development Authority and sent to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for approval in April this year.