Delhi High Court to examine lack of policy for mutation of properties in urbanised villages

The Delhi High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the challenges faced by residents of Delhi’s urbanised villages when it comes to the mutation of revenue entries concerning their land [Court on its own motion v L&DO, Ministry of Urban Development & Ors]..Mutation is the process of changing the title of a property in the records of the local authorities.A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela noted that the problem regarding the mutation of properties in Delhi’s urbanised villages has persisted for the last two decades since these villages went from being rural areas to urban.The Court said that there is a vacuum due to the lack of any clear policy and, therefore, initiated a public interest litigation on the matter. “The absence of a documentation mechanism by land-owning agencies post-urbanization disproportionately affects the urban poor. Lack of formal property rights evidence prevents access to credit facility for construction and renovation to benefits from government schemes or participation in land pooling policy of the Delhi Government. Such a legal vacuum disabling the villagers from managing their immovable properties prima facie violates their fundamental right under Article 21 and constitutional right under Article 300A of the Constitution of India, and accordingly needs to be addressed at the earliest, by the concerned departments/government agencies,” the Court said..The Bench noted that Section 507(a) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act read with Section 150(3) of the Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954 states that after a notification under these provisions, a Gram Sabha stands dissolved and the land gets vested in the Central Government. The net result of such notification is that the concerned village/villages cease to be a part of ‘rural areas’ within the meaning of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act and becomes included in 'urban areas', due to which the Delhi’s revenue department ceased to maintain land records regarding such urbanised areas.It issued notices to the Land and Development Officer, Ministry of Urban Development, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority, Secretary (Revenue)/ Development Commissioner, Delhi government, Member Secretary of the Delhi State Legal Services Authority and the Delhi government..The High Court took cognisance of the issue after residents of Delhi's Jaunti village raised their concerns before Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Acting Chief Justice Manmohan during a camp organised by the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA).The matter will be heard next on October 20. .[Read Order]