Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed his ministers to ensure that the regularisation of unauthorised colonies is not delayed even by a minute and they must agree to “all conditions” that the Centre has noted in a draft note sent to the AAP government for feedback, senior government officials said on Monday.

“Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed his council of ministers to immediately accept all conditions made in the central government’s communication for regularisation of unauthorised colonies so that this decade-old issue is resolved at the earliest… The CM told the ministers that it is not the time for blame game. Even a minute’s delay will not be tolerated,” said a senior official in the chief minister’s office.

On July 11, the Delhi government had received a draft cabinet note prepared by the Centre, senior officials in Delhi government said. Union ministry of urban affairs officials had said that the draft note was circulated for feedback among all stakeholders, including Delhi government.

Kejriwal on Saturday had said that the Delhi government would respond to the Centre in 3-4 days. On Monday, senior officials in the urban development department said that they would send the feedback by Wednesday.

The directions, the senior official said on the condition of anonymity, were issued after a series of meetings on Saturday, two days after Kejriwal announced that residents of 1,797 unauthorised colonies in Delhi will soon get ownership and transfer rights over their properties. The cut-off date for the unauthorised colony to be eligible will be January 1, 2015.

According to government data, Delhi has 1,797 unauthorised colonies. In 2018, the Delhi Economic Survey estimated at least 5.5 million were living in these colonies.

While Kejriwal maintained that the Centre’s proposal was in response to another proposal sent by the AAP government in November 2015, Union government officials said the draft cabinet note was prepared on the basis of recommendations
by a committee setup under the lieutenant governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal.

The committee, which was constituted just two days before the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections came into force, was given 90 days to recommend the process for giving ownership rights to citizens living in unauthorised colonies over their properties. Delhi L-G submitted the report to housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri on June 10.

In the draft Cabinet note, the Centre has suggested a survey to be done by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for accurate mapping of the unauthorised colonies and fixing of boundaries. In the last two years, Delhi government had attempted four surveys under different methodologies, but did not succeed. The mapping, senior government officials said, is also important to assess the presence of a property before the said cut-off date under the proposal.

In the note, the Centre also empowers divisional commissioners of the revenue department of the Delhi government to provide a “one time exemption” with regard to documents for the purpose of registration and for stamp duty, officials said.

Exemption with regard to documents would mean residents would have to produce fewer documents compared to the regular processes of application for ownership and transfer in authorised colonies.

An exemption in stamp duty will mean that even if a property has been sold and purchased multiple times, the stamp duty for registration purpose would be imposed as a percentage of the latest transaction value, officials said.

According to the committee’s report, however, three colonies — Sainik Farms, Mahendru Enclave and Anant Ram Dairy — will not be given exemption in stamp duty as they are “inhabited by affluent sections of the society”.

First Published: Jul 23, 2019 00:49 IST