Land Pooling Policy

Land Pooling Policy has been permitted by the Ministry of Urban Development; vide S.O.No - 2687(E), on 5th September 2013. This policy purpose to avoid, selling of land without the owner’s approval.  This policy assures fundamental changes in the way of attainment and development of land in Delhi.

The first Master Plan of Delhi was formulated in the year 1961. The policy then of DDA’s was to acquire large chunks of land, directly from the land owners, at a price determined by DDA. DDA would then undertake the master planning and then sell / develop the land, piece by piece. When the land valuations were nominal, this process was suitable.

In the 1960’s, the private sector wasn’t strong enough in the economy to shoulder the responsibility of urbanization & housing. Hence, the government took on the liability, and the land acquisition became the norm. From the 1980’s, the private sector through their incremental ability rightfully started seeking a larger role. In the past couple decades, the demand surge from the customers really made the supply from the government stable insufficient, and hence, the majority of supply was created by the private sector.

The land valuations rose amazingly under this increased demand, as well as the higher spend & investment appetite. The government continued to rest on the provisions of the Land acquisition Bill 1894, which was seemingly unfair to the land owners, for compensation as well as analysis. With the many instances which happened in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, NOIDA etc, it became increasingly clear to the government that forceful acquisition cannot be a tenable & legal method.

Also, the private sector wanted a more free market methodology, as the government acquisition could potentially be a delaying factor for projects.

Hence, this Land pooling policy. Under this policy, land owners can surrender their land asset into the central pool and be a stakeholder to the development proposed on their land. Once the land is pooled, the landowner would get back 40-60% of the total land surrendered, as developable land, “For once, the disputes on undervaluation of land for acquisition would be removed, and the process would seem fair to every land owner, irrespective of the size of their land holding. The 40-60% land that DDA would retain with them would be utilized for creation of infrastructure as well as monetize it against specific purposes, by DDA.

There are two basic types of Land Pooling which have been announced so far

1. 20 hectares and above where 60% of land would be returned to the land owner
2. 02 and 20 hectares, where about 48% of land pooled would be returned to the land owner

According to a proposal, DDA would set up a separate institutional framework with officials from DDA’s finance; accounts; land management; planning; legal and engineering departments. All the plans would be prepared by GIS technology. If necessary amendments would be made in Delhi Municipal Corporation Act – 1957; Delhi Land Reforms Act – 1954; Land Acquisition Act - 1894 and Delhi Development Act - 1957.

The Delhi master plan MPD 2021 is touted to be the largest ever real estate opportunity in the country for the demographic demand, and the administrative commitment provides the triggers for growth. Delhi’s master plan is considered to accommodate an additional population on 10 million people, as well as facilitate the creation of almost 1.6 million dwelling units, and the land pooling policy being the first of the many pioneering methods towards the vision to actuality.

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