In its provisional notice on May 19, 2022, for the formation of a consortium under the land pooling policy and regulations, the Deputy Director (Land Pooling) initiated the process for the Sector 2 and Sector 3 in Zone P-II and Sector 10A in Zone N of Delhi.One of the eligibility criteria – of a minimum of 70% of the developable area in the sector needing to be pooled – was fulfilled. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) then issued a provisional notice to the three sectors. The notice further stated that the consortium has to be formed within 90 days of the issue of this notice along with fulfilment of the condition that 70% of the land for each of the three sectors needs to be contiguous. This hasn’t been fulfilled yet. This policy was notified on October 24, 2018. As per the regulations, a consortium is defined as a registered association having rights, duties and obligations in accordance with law, constituting of multiple landowners or developer entities who have come together to pool the land as per policy. Provisional notice for formation of consortium issued by DDA. Source: DDA, Land Pooling Website Till October 31, 2022, as per the data released by the DDA, 87.1%, 81.5% and 98.4% of land is tentatively pooled in Section 2 and Section 3 in Zone P-II, and Section 10 A in Zone N. When compared across sectors in four land pooling zones in Delhi, these are very high percentages of land pooled under the policy. The notice also advocated for encouragement of non-participating landowners in these sectors to participate.Land pooled map for Sector-2 Zone P-II. The area statement shows that though the sector has been able to pool 87.8% of land, only 65.79% of the total pooled land is contiguous. Source: DDAThe first provisional notice issued to these three sectors was hailed as one of the big steps under the much-delayed land pooling exercise. Stakeholders have largely been advocating for the speedy implementation of the policy. Demarcating the sector boundary along with proposed roads and location of villages, DDA had installed signages in the proposed sectors. This further raised hope among the stakeholders. Proposed Sector 2 Zone P-II map installed on a display board in the Tigipur village. Photo: Ritesh Rana, Bakhtawarpur villageBut there have been discussions going on to amend the Delhi Development Act, 1957, to make land pooling mandatory for those landowners who have not expressed willingness to participate in the policy if minimum 70% criteria is achieved. These amendments were announced by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs minister, Hardeep Singh Puri. The amendments are in contravention to the ‘voluntary participation clause’ of the policy, as well as the non-democratic and participatory principles of any land policy. After issuing conditional notices, the DDA held public meetings in the month of July 2022 in the villages of Sector 2 and Sector 3 on the land pooling policy.The DDA till date has provided four extension notices to the all the three sectors to form the consortium. The 90-day deadline is long gone. The latest notice issued by DDA mentioned the extension up to March 31, 2023, for three sectors. However, even after five months of the deadline, no consortium has been formed in these three sectors. Meanwhile, the DDA has issued provisional notices to 10 other sectors across different zones. It has also conveyed through a public notice that in Sector 8B in Zone P-II, a consortium was registered on February 27, 2023. It is unclear as to why this delay is taking place in forming the consortiums.Notice regarding extension of time period to form consortium issued by DDA. Source: DDA, Land Pooling websiteOne of the significant challenges in the formation of consortium is the small parcels of land is multiplicity of ownership. For instance, details of registered applicants who have shown willingness to participate in the policy from Sector 2 Zone P-II points to the fact that majority of the landowners own land less than one hectare. With varied interests and each landowner trying to reap maximum benefits from the land pooling policy, there has been significant mistrust among landowners too.Sanjay Thakran, a real estate broker from Sector 10A Zone N said, “Making the consortium is the biggest issue. They are saying that one person will represent us and submit papers to the DDA. Now, if I don’t know someone, why would I give them charge of my land?Also read: The Missing Villagers of the DDA’s Green Development PolicyHe added, “The DDA says to first form a group of 100-150 people and then submit one’s land to some builder. Now a farmer’s concern is what will he do if the builder doesn’t take any action. DDA wouldn’t give any money to the landowners. Our say is that either you scrap this consortium formation clause or else bring people together on this.”The announcement by DDA for the provisional notice was also seen as a major step that might impact the land prices in the villages. Multiple interactions with landowners in land pooling villages have pointed to the steep rise and decline in land prices due to sudden announcements by authorities.A landowner from Sector 2 Zone P-II, on the consortium notice by DDA, said, “In 2010-2011 when discussions around the policy were happening, the rate was Rs 4-4.5 crore per acre of land. Now it has gone down to Rs 1 crore per acre.When the consortium notice came, the land prices should have increased to Rs 10 crore per acre and builders should have come in their cars inside the village with cash to purchase the land but there is no life in the policy. Why would investors come and invest?” RTI correspondence with DDA and MoHUA has revealed that this policy has been reviewed and discussed in the PMO. But till date nothing has been finalised. The reply received two months ago stated that the matter is in the “examination stage”. Though the DDA has been historically blamed for the lack of trust among landowning villagers, with private players entering the policy, the landowners need an informed decision-making platform to come together. This is something that will not come about in the course of one or two meetings.Paras Tyagi is president of Centre for Youth Culture Law and Environment (CYCLE), a Delhi based non-profit organisation. Vipul Kumar is an urban policy and governance graduate student from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
