Parliament has passed the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorized Colonies) Bill, 2019 with the Rajya Sabha approving it today.

The legislation has already been cleared by the Lok Sabha.

The bill provides for a legal framework to grant ownership rights of land to more than 40 lakh people living in unauthorised colonies in Delhi.

It envisages offering them the rights of transferring or mortgage rights also. They would be able to claim the rights on the basis of holding documents like Power of Attorney, Agreement of Sale, Will or Possession letters. It will provide relief to the residents of 1731 unauthorised colonies in the National Capital Region.

Replying to the discussions on the bill, Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, a 2008-notification has identified 1797 unauthorized colonies in the national capital, of which 66 have been excluded from the purview of the bill for now.

He cited reasons for the exclusion as the colonies falling under forest lands, ‘O’ zone or under the high tension power lines and those land parcels identified in the master plan for roads.

He said, the title of the land after regularization will be made either in the name of the women in the beneficiary-family or jointly with women. He said, a mechanism will be established for looking into the case of those 66 excluded colonies.

Mr Puri said, the scheme is much more than a regularization as it confers the rights of the land and is not just regularizing unapproved structures. He added, the stamp duty and registration charges would be very minimal and the task of conferring land title would be over in a short span of time to all beneficiaries.

He said, the DDA will launch a portal for applying for the regularization after uploading the maps of the delineated colonies which will be completed in a few days.

He said fifty or more help centres will also be established by the DDA to help the beneficiaries to complete the process of applying for the conferment of titles in their names. He assured that all the beneficiaries would be conferred with the land title without leaving anyone.

He said, the Delhi Government kept on seeking more time to provide the survey details of the unauthorized colonies despite reminders from the Union Government, causing a delay.

Earlier, moving the motion, Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, the delineation of the colonies are being made using satellite images and maps. He said, inputs from various resident welfare associations have also been taken in the delineation exercise. He said, the NDA government is working on providing well-built houses to those living in informal settlements in the national capital at the same places where they are living.

While initiating the discussion, Kumari Selja of Congress questioned the timing of the bill saying it has been brought ahead of the impending Delhi Assembly elections. She said the Centre has been silent on the matter for more than five years. Dola Sen of TMC also alleged that the bill has been brought with political intentions and demanded the bill be sent to the Standing Committee for further scrutiny.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar observed that the whole of Delhi is in favour of the legislation and is looking forward to its fruition.

Javed Ali Khan of Samajwadi Party said, the issue of regularization may persist as in future more unauthorized colonies could spring up. He said no credit has been given to the Delhi government for its efforts on regularization of the colonies. Sanjay Singh of Aam Adami Party said the Delhi government has sent the relevant satellite images to the Centre in November 2015 itself.

Dr. Amar Patnaik of the BJD said the Bill will unlock the real value of the assets after the regularization.

Bhupendra Yadav of BJP said that the bill is a result of the futuristic vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that Delhi will become a world-class city as people will get easy loans and basic amenities in the colonies to develop their assets.

K Somprasad of CPI (M), R.S. Bharathi of DMK, V. Vijaysai Reddy of YSR Congress, Ashok Siddharth of BSP, Binoy Vishwam of CPI and Vijay Goel of BJP also participated in the discussion.