Efforts on to expedite changes to land Act

Mar 21,2022

Amendments will make land pooling a mandatory exercise for all after participation rate reaches 70%

To expedite the implementation of the land pooling policy, efforts are being made to introduce the proposed amendments to the Delhi Development Act (1957) in the current parliament session, a senior official of the urban body told The Hindu.

The proposed amendments were announced last week at a press meet by Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri.

Through the amendments, land pooling becomes mandatory for owners who are yet to express their willingness, once the minimum participation rate reaches 70%. However, one of the proposed amendments grants powers to the Centre to declare pooling mandatory, even if the minimum threshold of 70% participation is not achieved. 

Asked whether the change in the nature of the policy — as proposed in the amendments — from voluntary to mandatory had led to any objections, the senior official dismissed the notion. 

Referring to the amendments, he added, “Wherever development takes place on these lines, it is backed by the act. We are working hard towards introducing the proposed amendments to the act in the current parliament session. It is now up to the Cabinet to decide.”

Conditional notices

Meanwhile, citing that the legislative process for the due amendments might take time, the agency has worked out a second strategy where it is looking to issue conditional notices for forming consortiums for sectors where the minimum participation rate has already been achieved. 

“A letter regarding the approval for the conditional notices has been sent to the ministry (MoHUA) and is currently being examined. Once we receive their consent, we will issue the notices. It is under active consultation,” said the senior official. 

Roadblocks in the policy

Though the land pooling policy is ambitious on paper, the DDA is facing hurdles in its execution.

While the participation of owners has crossed 70% in various sectors, contiguity is yet to be achieved. Therefore, development works are yet to take place, despite the policy being notified twice — in 2013 and 2018.

Since the agency first opened its window for land pooling applications in February 2019, a total area of 7,275.45 hectares from a total of 6,922 applications has been registered. However, participation has remained lukewarm over the recent windows, despite the repeated extension of deadlines. 

For instance, only 19 applications and 12.6 additional hectares were registered during the last extension given by the DDA for land pooling applications — from January 24 to February 28. 

According to the current policy, 60% of the land can be utilised by the owners or developer entity for developing residential and commercial facilities. However, 40% of the land should be surrendered to service providing agencies, such as the DDA, for infrastructural developments like road networks, sewerage systems and parks.

With the proposed amendments aimed at eliminating the hurdles of contiguity and low participation rates, senior officials previously said out of the 16 high priority sectors the DDA has identified in zones L, N and P-II, development works will start this year in at least two sectors.