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The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to resolve delays in processing leasehold-to-freehold property conversion applications and to promptly resume the operation of its online conversion portal, the Interactive Disposal of Land Information System (IDLI). The direction stems from a petition filed by property owners at DLF South Court Mall in Saket, who applied for conversion in 2023 but faced prolonged delays despite paying the required fees. The court dismissed the DDA's explanation citing technical failures in the portal, ruling that such glitches cannot justify indefinitely delaying statutory duties. The DDA's vice chairman has been asked to file a status report on the matter.
The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to promptly resolve delays in its leasehold-to-freehold property conversion process and resume the functioning of its online conversion portal, in a ruling that addresses a backlog affecting commercial property transactions in the capital.
The court's intervention arose from a petition filed by property owners at DLF South Court Mall in Saket, who had applied for conversion of their leasehold properties to freehold status in 2023. Despite having paid the required conversion fees, the owners faced prolonged delays in having their applications processed, a situation further complicated by disputes over the applicability of retrospective Goods and Services Tax on such transactions.
The DDA had previously attributed the delays to technical failures in its Interactive Disposal of Land Information System, the online portal through which conversion applications are submitted and processed. The court rejected this explanation, ruling that technical glitches did not constitute a valid basis for indefinitely postponing what it characterised as the authority's statutory obligations towards applicants.
The court's order highlighted the broader consequences of the prolonged administrative delay, noting that the resulting paralysis in processing had stalled property sales, family settlements and succession planning for numerous applicants across Delhi. For businesses holding leasehold commercial properties, the inability to finalise ownership titles has also been noted to restrict access to credit facilities and complicate broader financial planning, given that freehold status is often a prerequisite for mortgaging or transferring property without seeking prior regulatory approval.
Under Delhi's prevailing leasehold system, the government retains ownership of the underlying land, with allottees holding rights to the property for a fixed period, subject to a range of conditions. Freehold conversion grants the property owner absolute rights over both land and building, considerably easing the process of sale, transfer or mortgage without the need for further approvals from the authority. This distinction underlies why timely freehold conversion has remained a significant consideration in property transactions across Delhi.
The DDA's freehold conversion portal has faced broader operational disruptions in recent months, with the Land and Development Office, which handles a separate but related category of conversions, having kept its own process closed since December 2022 pending a revision of conversion rates and standard operating procedures. Conversion rates for residential properties in Delhi were last revised by the DDA in 2011, and both the DDA and the Land and Development Office are expected to resume conversions in tandem once updated circle rates are formally notified by the Delhi government.
Following the court's directive, the DDA's vice chairman was asked to file a status report detailing the authority's plan for clearing the backlog of pending applications, ahead of a scheduled hearing on the matter. The court's order is expected to require the DDA to set out a clear timeline for resolving the recurring technical issues attributed to the IDLI portal, as well as to address the outstanding dispute over the applicability of retrospective GST on conversion transactions.
The report on the court's directive did not specify the number of pending conversion applications currently affected by the delays, nor did it provide further detail on the timeline the DDA is expected to adopt in response to the court's order.
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