Bill on regularisation of Delhi's unauthorised colonies in Lok Sabha

A Bill which seeks to provide a legal framework to grant ownership rights to people living in unauthorised colonies in Delhi was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Bill, 2019, was introduced by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

According to the Bill, ownership rights will be given on the basis of power of attorney, agreement of sale, will, possession letter or any other documents, including papers evidencing payment of consideration through a conveyance deed or authorisation slip. The stamp duty and registration charges shall be payable on the amount mentioned in the conveyance deed or authorisation slip, it states.

Speaking about unauthorised colonies at a media event here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said for decades, there was an uncertainty in the lives of lakhs of Delhi families. People would buy houses with their hard-earned money somehow, but could not own it fully and this problem constantly existed, he said.

The prime minister said that the Centre has decided to end this, and more than 50 lakh of people of Delhi have now got assurance for their homes and a better life. According to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the applicants will have to register and upload the required documents -- general power of attorney, payment receipt, possession letter, etc. -- on the website.

"Thereafter, a team of DDA will visit the spot for verification. The officials will help the applicants remove deficiencies, in case there are any," he said. The proposal to grant ownership rights is applicable to 1,797 identified unauthorised colonies spread over 175 square-km of the national capital inhabited by people from lower income groups.

The decision is politically significant as it will benefit millions of poor migrants. They hold the key to the assembly election due early next year in Delhi and they had backed the AAP in large numbers in the 2015 polls. The Union Cabinet had approved the Bill on November 20.

Last week, Puri had said that people living in unauthorised colonies in the national capital would be able to apply for ownership rights starting December 16. Recently, Modi had told some representatives of welfare associations of these colonies that a bill would be brought to implement the decision.

The AAP government in Delhi had accused the Centre of not bringing the bill as promised. According to the existing regulations of 2008, the process of regularisation was to be coordinated and supervised by the Delhi government.

"Delineation of boundary of unauthorised colonies is the starting point of the process as per regulations. However, the Delhi government could not delineate the boundaries of these colonies even after 11 years of issuance of the regulations and has sought more time up to 2021 to complete this exercise," an official statement had said on October 23. The move does not apply to 69 affluent colonies identified by the Delhi Development Authority, including Sainik Farms, Mahendru Enclave and Anantram Dairy, Union minister Puri had said when the Cabinet approved the proposal last month.

The proposed bill is aimed at recognising general power of attorney (GPA), will, agreement to sell, purchase and possession documents, which will be a one-time relaxation for this purpose for the residents of these colonies. The bill will also provide for registration charge and stamp duty on last transaction and also address the issue of income tax liability on account of less than circle rate charges.

In July, the Delhi government had proposed a set of parameters to regularise the 1,797 colonies which include charging 1 per cent cost of circle rate of land for up to 200 square metre plot from occupants besides a nominal penalty. The rights will be conferred on payment of nominal charge based on carpet area/plot size. For colonies on government land, the charge will be 0.5 per cent (for less than 100 sq m), 1 per cent (for 100-250 sqm) and 2.5 per cent (for greater than 250 sqm), of the circle rate of highest category of locality of the residential area surrounding the unauthorised colony.

For colonies on private land, it will be half of the charge on government land.