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The Delhi High Court has expressed concern over the deteriorating and uninhabitable condition of thousands of flats constructed under the Centre's Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme, intended for the rehabilitation of slum dwellers in the city. The court has been monitoring the matter for several years after taking cognisance of the non-allotment of a large number of these flats, originally built to house economically weaker section families. Of the approximately 52,000 flats sanctioned under the scheme across multiple locations, only a fraction have been allotted so far, with a significant number left vacant and in a dilapidated state for years due to delays between central and state authorities.
The Delhi High Court has expressed concern over the uninhabitable condition of a large number of flats constructed under the Centre's Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme, which were intended for the rehabilitation of slum dwellers across the national capital, as the matter continues to be monitored by the court in ongoing proceedings.
The JNNURM scheme, launched by the central government, envisaged the construction of low-cost housing for economically weaker sections, with implementation entrusted to the Delhi government and its agencies, including the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) and the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC). Under the scheme, approximately 52,000 flats were sanctioned for construction across multiple sites in the city, at a cost running into several hundred crore rupees, funded substantially through central government grants.
The Delhi High Court has been seized of the matter for an extended period, having earlier taken cognisance of the non-allotment of flats constructed under the scheme while hearing a separate batch of petitions concerning slum rehabilitation in the city. The court had noted that a considerable number of flats were either fully or partially constructed but remained unallotted, with authorities citing reasons including the lack of basic amenities and infrastructure required to make the units habitable.
Of the total flats sanctioned, tens of thousands were completed years ago, but only a small proportion have actually been handed over to eligible beneficiaries. A significant number of the completed flats have remained vacant for years, with officials attributing the delay to a combination of incomplete infrastructure, disputes between central and state authorities over funding and implementation responsibility, and prolonged administrative inaction.
Years of continued vacancy have left many of these flats in a deteriorating and increasingly uninhabitable condition, lacking basic fixtures, fittings and civic amenities such as water and electricity connections. The court's concern reflects the cumulative impact of this prolonged neglect, with structures originally intended to provide dignified housing to slum-rehabilitation beneficiaries instead falling into disrepair while remaining unoccupied.
The matter has also drawn political attention in recent months, with the Delhi government announcing plans to renovate a significant number of these vacant flats and allot them to eligible beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban scheme. Delhi authorities have acknowledged that funds allocated for the scheme, running into several hundred crore rupees, had remained largely unutilised for years due to the delay in allotment, with the central government subsequently approving the use of these funds for renovation of the dilapidated units.
The Delhi High Court's continued monitoring of the issue underscores the persistent gap between the completion of publicly funded housing stock and its actual delivery to intended beneficiaries, a pattern that has affected slum rehabilitation efforts in the capital across successive years and multiple rounds of judicial intervention.
The report on the court's latest observations did not specify a revised timeline for the allotment of the remaining vacant flats, nor did it detail the current status of the renovation work being undertaken by Delhi government agencies at the affected sites.
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