New Delhi, April 7 – The Centre announced a new policy on Tuesday to regularize properties based on "as is where is" criteria in 1,511 unauthorized colonies in the national capital, requiring all buildings to obtain approval from the Delhi Municipal Corporation.
This move will provide significant relief to approximately 10 lakh families residing in these areas.
Under the new rules, residents will no longer need to submit a layout plan to register their property, and can instead submit a building plan prepared by an architect approved by the MCD.
The revenue department, not the DDA, will now issue conveyance deeds for property ownership rights. The MCD will conduct regular drone surveys to identify new constructions.
The civic body will issue "Certificates of Regularization" and also survey vacant plots to build civic infrastructure.
Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar, along with Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, addressed a press conference, stating that this was a significant day for the city's residents.
They announced that applications for property ownership under the revised policy can be filed online through the PM-UDAY portal starting April 24. They stated that this would benefit nearly 50 lakh residents of such colonies.
The PM-UDAY (Pradhan Mantri-Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana) scheme, launched in 2019 to regularize ownership rights in unauthorized colonies, was revised due to several technical issues.
According to the 2019 policy, approximately 40,000 conveyance deeds were issued, and the process will now be streamlined with a defined timeline for issuing the deeds within 45 days.
The year 2014 will be considered the cutoff year for regularisation.
Khattar stated that the "as is where is" policy will cover existing buildings in the unauthorized colonies, while new constructions will be required to comply with the norms set by the MCD and obtain its permission.
"The 1,511 unauthorized colonies (out of 1,731 UCs) that do not fall under exclusion criteria will be regularized on an 'as-is, where-is' basis without requiring approved layout plans," Khattar said, adding that land use of all plots and buildings in these colonies will be treated as residential.
A total of 220 unauthorized colonies will not fall under the purview of the new policy, as they are located on prohibited land such as designated forests, areas protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, Zone-O (Yamuna Flood Plain), road access, high tension lines, Delhi ridge areas, or land protected under any law.
In addition, 69 affluent unauthorized colonies are also excluded.
Under the revised policy, convenience shops up to 20 square meters will be regularized if they have access to a six-meter right of way. For shops up to 10 square meters, the required right of way may be less than six meters.
An official from the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry stated that regularisation will apply to existing built-up structures on an "as-is where-is" basis. The absence of approved layout plans will not be a barrier to regularisation.
The official said that an applicant can log into the MCD SWAGAM portal (https://mcdonline.nic.in/swagam) and select a colony name (from the eligible 1,511 colonies), ward, and zone, which will be auto-populated.
There will be an option to choose whether a PM-UDAY case identity exists or not, he said, adding that if no, he will be required to log into the PM-UDAY portal, while if yes, he should enter the case ID.
If the conveyance deed or authorisation slip has been issued, an application form will be filled out, and if not, the application will be redirected to the PM-UDAY portal for status.
"Processing of applications and issuance of conveyance deed or authorisation slip will be done by the revenue department with DDA support after conducting a survey of the building structure," he said.
Under the new policy, applications on the SWAGAM portal will be accepted from April 24 for those cases where conveyance deeds or authorisation slips have been issued.
In cases of reconstruction or redevelopment, land equivalent to 50 per cent of the deficiency in right of way must be surrendered to achieve minimum access width (6m internal roads, 9m approach roads).
"FAR will be calculated on the original plot area, but utilised within the reduced plot after surrender. If existing FAR exceeds permissible limits, penal charges (three times additional FAR charges) will apply," the official said.
Layout plans will be prepared by an inter-agency cell (DDA, MCD, GNCTD) using satellite imagery, but an absence of layout plans will not hinder regularisation, the official added.
Providing ownership rights in authorized colonies was one of the key promises in the BJP's Sankalp Patra, or manifesto, for the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections.
Talking to reporters, Khattar said that the move will not only provide legal ownership but also enable citizens to construct or redevelop their homes in accordance with MCD norms.
He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi is witnessing a new phase of planned and inclusive urban development for a future-ready city.