From 11 to 13: Delhi’s districts to soon align with MCD’s zones

Delhi plans to increase its districts from 11 to 13, aligning revenue boundaries with MCD zones for better governance, pending cabinet approval.

Delhi is set for its most significant administrative reshaping in years, with the number of districts likely to rise from 11 to 13 under a redrawn map that largely aligns the Capital’s revenue boundaries with those of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

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The restructuring plan, prepared by the revenue department and now awaiting the Delhi cabinet’s approval, aims to streamline governance by ensuring that civic and administrative jurisdictions finally overlap after years of mismatch, officials aware of the matter said on Monday.

Senior officials involved in the exercise said the cartographic work is complete and that the final approval is expected soon, given the approaching deadline for freezing districts ahead of the 2025 Census.

“The process is likely to be completed before December-end, as the Census exercise is scheduled to start soon and districts freeze on December 31, 2025. The Census should ideally reflect the new district units. We have sent the proposal, which is likely to be finalised soon,” a Delhi government official, who asked not to be identified, said.

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Under the restructuring, the 11 existing revenue districts – Central, East, New Delhi, North, North East, North West, Shahdara, South, South East, South West and West – will be replaced by 12 districts whose boundaries match MCD’s administrative zones. The 13th district will consist of areas under the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Delhi Cantonment Board, bringing these pockets into a more uniform administrative fold.

Currently, revenue districts are headed by district magistrates while MCD’s 12 zones – Central, City & Sadar, Civil Lines, Karol Bagh, Keshavpuram, Najafgarh, Narela, Rohini, Shahdara North, Shahdara South, South and West – are overseen by deputy commissioners. The disconnect between these two maps has long frustrated coordination, with overlapping jurisdictions slowing down implementation of schemes and complicating routine governance.

Officials said the restructuring will correct this. “The new districts will be aligned with the boundaries of the MCD zones, but their names will be finalised by the government. We have proposed names such as Karol Bagh, Rohini and Najafgarh, based on zone names, but the final call will be taken by the cabinet,” a senior official said.

Unlike the current system – where district names such as East, West or South East Delhi reflect geography – the proposed names will be tied to specific administrative clusters, with Shahdara and New Delhi being the exceptions even today.

Delhi currently has different zonal boundaries for revenue, municipality as well as police, often creating jurisdictional challenges. There are 11 revenue districts, 12 MCD zones along with areas governed by NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB).

Meanwhile, Delhi Police has 15 districts for maintaining law and order, with districts like North, South, East, among others, with various police stations under them, as per Delhi Police structure.

A government official said that MCD and revenue departments are involved in execution of various schemes and if teams overseeing the same area are in tandem, the implementation can be more robust and paperwork goes down. In case of police, coordination is sometimes required from the respective district magistrate or documentation from municipal zones regarding building violations, license norms, tackling illegal trades or encroachment removal drives.

Alongside the district overhaul, the revenue department has also proposed increasing the number of sub-divisions from 33 to 39 to reflect the reorganisation. According to the draft plan, the Central district may include the sub-divisions of Defence Colony–Jangpura, Kalkaji–Okhla and Sangam Vihar–Badarpur; the New Delhi district will have Delhi Cantonment and New Delhi; Narela district will include Mundka, Narela and Bawana; and Karol Bagh district may consist of Moti Nagar–Patel Nagar, Karol Bagh and Rajinder Nagar.

In East Delhi, the proposed Shahdara North district will cover Karawal Nagar, Mustafabad, Seemapuri, Gokulpuri, Seelampur, Ghonda, Shahdara and Rohtas Nagar. Shahdara South is likely to include Gandhi Nagar–Krishna Nagar–Laxmi Nagar, Vishwas Nagar and Kondli–Trilokpuri–Patparganj. “The cabinet will assess the implications of these changes and take a final call,” the official said.