The Delhi High Court has given the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and the Land & Development Office (L&DO) a final deadline to submit a policy for converting leasehold properties to freehold, after taking strong exception to delays affecting thousands of applicants in the capital.
A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan directed the authorities to place the final policy before the court at least three days before the next hearing on Sept 28. The court said it was “clearly not satisfied” with the progress made since its previous order and observed that “scores of citizens” could not be made to wait indefinitely.
The proceedings relate to grievances over the DDA’s online portal for leasehold-to-freehold property conversions. The portal has remained offline since February 2026, leaving applications stalled even though conversion charges have already been collected from applicants.
The court took note of minutes from a meeting involving the authorities and said they showed “no clarity on any policy whatsoever”. It directed the secretary of MoHUA’s capital development department and the DDA vice-chairman to be present during the next hearing.
According to the court’s reference to an earlier order, 1,373 applications were pending and the DDA had collected Rs 155.1 crore in conversion charges. The bench directed that these applications be processed under the policy that was in force when the respective payments were made.
The court also clarified that any new policy would operate prospectively. This means applications already submitted and paid for would not be shifted retrospectively to a later framework, according to the directions recorded in the proceedings.
The leasehold-to-freehold process has implications for property holders because conversion changes the nature of the land tenure attached to a property. In the cases before the court, however, the immediate issue is the administrative standstill caused by the unavailable portal and the absence of a finalised policy among the concerned authorities.
Officials from MoHUA, DDA, L&DO and the revenue department met on Aug 14 to discuss the related issues. The discussions included simplifying documentation, reducing procedural steps and reviewing conversion charges, but the court said the meeting record did not establish clarity on the final policy.
The court’s latest direction gives the authorities a last opportunity to submit the policy before the Sept 28 hearing. The DDA and the central housing ministry are expected to address the pending applications and set out how the existing cases will be processed under the applicable policy.
