It gave the authorities a “last and final opportunity” to submit the final policy at least three days before the next hearing on Sept 28. New Delhi: Delhi High Court has taken a dim view of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Land & Development Office (L&DO) for the delay in finalising a policy for converting properties from leasehold to freehold.
The bench was dealing with cases related to grievances with DDA’s portal for leasehold-to-freehold property conversions, which has been offline since Feb 2026. Referring to a previous order, the court noted that 1,373 applications had been pending and DDA had collected Rs 155.1 crore in conversion charges. Many applications are pending despite conversion charges having been collected by DDA as application processing remains stalled due to the portal being down, it pointed out.
HC clarified that any new policy would need to operate prospectively. It directed all such applications must be processed under the policy in force during the payment.
Noting it was “clearly not satisfied” with the progress made since its previous order, the court took note of the minutes from a meeting between the authorities, and said they showed “no clarity on any policy whatsoever”. HC directed the secretary of MoHUA’s capital development department and the DDA vice-chairman to join the proceedings during the next hearing.