NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recently announced the resumption of inheritance-based land mutation for over 174 ‘declared urban villages.’ The move was aimed at simplifying the transfer of agricultural land ownership. This development is expected to benefit numerous residents who have been denied their right to mutate land since 2010.
Special camps will be set up in various villages to facilitate the process. The first round of camps will open in 12 villages on September 19. According to an official, no amendments to the Delhi Development Act are required for this initiative.
These 174 villages, declared urbanised from 2017 onward, faced obstacles in the land mutation process after their management was handed over to the DDA. Officials had previously contended that the Delhi Land Revenue Act, which regulates mutations, ceased to apply once the villages were urbanised. Despite this move, roughly 134 urbanised villages have been left out of the mutation process.
In an interview with Paras Tyagi, President of the Centre for Youth Culture Law and Environment, Prabhat Shukla discusses the plight of those who have been denied rights to ancestral land for decades.
Excerpts.
What exactly is issue of mutation of land in urban villages?
This problem has persisted for a long time. The laws are such that, whenever a village in Delhi is declared urban, land mutation cannot be carried out. This is because the land laws have changed. Earlier, we had the Delhi Land Revenue Act and now we have the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act and the Delhi Development Authority Act. Under these acts, there is no mutation process.
These acts were passed in the 1950s but we are still facing the consequences. This does not happen anywhere else in the country because to declare a village as urban, you will need to conduct a public hearing with the village Panchayat. But Delhi’s villages don’t have any local governance anymore.
People have been silently suffering for decades because of a lack of awareness.
What are the practical consequences of such a process? What is the current situation of these lands?
As the population has increased, agricultural land has been converted into houses, buildings and shops. Those located on the outskirts have been converted to farmhouses. So people are still managing to hold on to it. But the government still contests it as people don’t have the valid papers to prove their ownership. This also leads to a lot of corruption as officials from the revenue department and the DDA frequently threaten removal. People have to pay bribes in order to be left alone. Many are also forced to sell the land to avoid lengthy legal battles. The land is then resold at much higher rates.
What do you think is the reason why mutation has been pending for such a long time?
Land in Delhi is extremely valuable and this has led to a lot of illegalities, encroachment and corruption. There are thousands of pending court cases due to land disputes. If proper mutation and demarcation of land are conducted, we will see an end to these disputes. And although this seems like an ideal situation, many vested interests do not want this. Because there is a flourishing illegal market for real estate in Delhi.