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Application for ownership rights in unauthorised colonies to open Dec 16
New Delhi: The application process for property ownership and transfer rights for residents of Delhi’s unauthorised colonies is set to be rolled out from December
New Delhi: The application process for property ownership and transfer rights for residents of Delhi’s unauthorised colonies is set to be rolled out from December 16, Union housing and urban affairs ministry said Saturday.
“A web portal will be launched for the process,” Union urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, while launching a separate web portal in which the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has started uploading satellite-based maps to delineate boundaries of unauthorised colonies.
Vice-chairperson of DDA Tarun Kapoor, who was with Puri, said the application process will be launched on December 16. He further said the DDA has so far uploaded 40 maps on to the portal launched on Saturday and at least 500 more maps will be uploaded in another week.
The land owning agency had last week started uploading maps of unauthorised colonies on its website so that residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) are able to assess their boundaries and post their comments, once they register themselves on the web portal. But RWAs were unable to post their comments on the portal on Saturday.
“I assure you that within three months, the whole ecosystem required to confer ownership rights to residents of unauthorised colonies will be in place,” Puri said at a press conference.
When asked about how long it would take for an applicant to get registry documents, Kapoor said, “It is difficult to say because there can be cases entangled in legal disputes and there can be instances of work overload if too many applicants surface within a short window. The idea is to start with small samples of cases in several unauthorised colonies that have no legal disputes.”
Puri said sufficient time has to be provided for public appeals, as objections may arise during the mapping exercise or after applications are filed.
On November 20, the Union cabinet had approved the proposal to introduce the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Unauthorised Colonies) Bill 2019 in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.
The Bill would allow the central government to offer property ownership and transfer rights to more than four million people residing in 1,728 of 1,797 identified unauthorised colonies in the national capital.
The project will be covered under a scheme named PM-UDAY (Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana). The DDA is the nodal agency for implementation of the scheme.
The initiative comes at a time when political parties in Delhi are gearing up for assembly polls, likely to be held in early-2020. The issue of regularisation of unauthorised colonies – of which, conferring property ownership and transfer rights is a major part – has been a poll issue in the city for years now.
“Our plan was to bring an ordinance but we decided to draft a Bill after the dates of Parliament session were announced,” Puri said, adding that the DDA will soon set up help desks across the city to assist people with the process.
Kapoor said at least 25 such help desks will be set up on December 1. On October 30, the government has notified the regulation for conferring ownership and transfer rights to residents of unauthorised colonies in Delhi after getting the Union cabinet’s approval on October 23.
