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The Delhi High Court has expressed strong displeasure over the progress of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA) and Land and Development Office (L&DO) in finalizing the policy of converting property from leasehold to freehold. The division bench of Justice Pratibha M Singh and Justice Vikas Mahajan said that a large number of people cannot be made to wait indefinitely for the conversion of their properties. The court said that it is not at all satisfied with the progress made by the concerned departments after the previous order.

The bench said that the minutes of the meetings held between the authorities show that there is no clarity yet on documentation, conversion charges and many other aspects of the proposed policy. The court has given last chance to MoHUA, DDA and L&DO to place their final policy on record. The court directed that the concerned departments should present their final policy on the court record at least three days before the next hearing. The next hearing of the case will be on September 28. Besides, the Secretary of Capital Development Department of MoHUA and Vice Chairman of DDA have also been directed to join the proceedings. The court was hearing cases that pertained to the DDA's portal for converting immovable properties from leasehold to freehold. This portal is closed since February 2026, due to which the process of application for property conversion has come to a halt.

The new policy will apply to future applications

The bench made it clear that the new policy prepared by the authorities will be applicable to future cases. The court said that a large number of conversion applications are already pending. There are many such applications for which DDA has already collected conversion charges, but due to closure of the portal, further action is not being taken on them. The court also referred to its earlier order, which had stated that 1,373 applications were pending and the DDA had already received Rs 155.06 crore as conversion charges for these applications. The court directed that the applications for which conversion charge has already been deposited should be processed as per the policy in force at that time.

Reference to previous decision also

The bench also referred to the earlier decision of the High Court in the case 'Neera Sharma vs Delhi Development Authority'. In that case the court had clarified that if the conversion charge has already been deposited along with the application, the subsequently changed rates cannot be imposed on the applicant merely because of the delay in processing the application by the authority. The present bench said that from this decision it is clear that the same charges will be applicable on conversion, which were in effect on the date of submission of the application. Especially when the applicant has already deposited the relevant charges. The court's observations came when officials placed on record the details of the meeting held on August 14 between MoHUA, DDA, L&DO and the Revenue Department. Issues like simplifying the documentation process, reducing conversion steps and review of conversion charges were discussed in the meeting.

Not satisfied with the progress made so far

In the meeting, the officials had admitted that some information is repeated in many of the documents asked from the applicants. At the same time, some documents are outdated and online verification of many information is also possible. In such a situation, the officials had agreed to review the documentation requirements and reduce them and adopt online verification wherever possible. There was also discussion in the meeting on simplifying the conversion process, so that the process becomes more convenient for the applicants, the time taken in processing is reduced and they are not burdened with unnecessary rules. Apart from this, a proposal was also made to completely review the existing conversion charge. Officials had sought time till December 31 to prepare a comprehensive policy after reviewing the documents, process and conversion charges. However, the High Court expressed dissatisfaction over the progress made so far and said that the applicants cannot be kept in uncertainty for so long.

Keep the final policy on record

The court said that even though it was mentioned in the minutes of the meeting that keeping the existing policy on hold did not prevent the leaseholders from transferring, gifting, inheriting or mortgaging their property as per the prescribed procedure, during the hearing no lawyer could explain to the court what was the existing procedure for transferring the leasehold property. DDA Vice Chairman told the court that talks are going on between DDA and L&DO on this issue and both the departments will submit their recommendations within two weeks. However, the court expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of clarity in the matter so far. The court directed the officials to place their final policy on record before the next hearing, so that the situation regarding the process of leasehold to freehold conversion and property transfer can be clarified.

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