The Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi Development Authority to process all pending applications for conversion of property from leasehold to freehold in terms of the prevalent policy as on the date of filing the application. The High Court took note of the fact that Rs 155.06 crore had already been collected by the DDA.

The High Court was considering a set of petitions concerned with the difficulties being faced by the residents of Delhi due to the applications for conversion of property from leasehold to freehold not being processed by the DDA.

The Bench comprising Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Vikas Mahajan ordered, “In the interest of justice, considering that the amounts have already been collected by the DDA amounting to Rs.155.06 crores, this Court deems it fit to direct that all pending applications for conversion of property from leasehold to freehold shall be processed by the DDA, in terms of the prevalent policy as on the date of filing the application.”

Standing Counsel Mrinalini Sen represented the Appellant while Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

On July 3, 2026, the Court took judicial notice of the fact that in several cases pending before the Court in respect of flats in different Co-operative Societies, the Interactive Disposal of Land Information System (IDLI) portal operated by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for filing applications seeking conversion of properties had remained non-functional since January 2, 2026. The Court had directed the DDA to place a status report on record in respect of the non-functioning of the IDLI portal. The Court considered the correspondence between the DDA and MoHUA which had taken place pursuant to the orders passed by the Court. However, from the said correspondence, it was clear that despite the portal being non-functional since January 2, 2026, the policy decision was not forthcoming.

Taking note of the lack of an expedient response by the concerned authorities, the Court, on September 7, 2026, granted a final opportunity to the MoHUA, DDA and L&DO to place their final policy on record.

Reasoning

On a perusal of the latest affidavit filed by the Under Secretary, MoHUA, Government of India, the Bench noted that the same did not show any progress nor it gave any timeline for finalising the policy. It merely stated the factors that needed to be considered for formulation of the policy, including the financial implications, etc.

“The Court is not satisfied with this recent affidavit. In the said affidavit it is stated that the Government has the discretion and competence to prescribe the terms, conditions and the rates governing conversion of property from leasehold to freehold. However, as is evident from the facts and circumstances of these matters, the Government appears to be lax in exercise of the said discretion”, it noted.

The Bench further noticed that despite the Court’s repeated directions and granting of time to finalise the policy for conversion of properties, the residents and property owners in Delhi were struggling for the past 8 months i.e., from January 2, 2026 when the IDLI portal became non-functional.

“This Court has repeatedly impressed upon the concerned authorities, including MoHUA and DDA, the importance of conversion of properties from leasehold to freehold as also the enormous difficulties being faced by the residents of Delhi. This situation is further compounded in respect of those property owners who have already filed the applications and paid the then prevalent conversion charges, and are now awaiting a decision from the DDA”, it added.

Decision

Thus, directing the DDA to process the applications, the Bench also ordered that for future applications the policy may be formulated and be placed before this Court by the next date of hearing. The matter has now been listed on December 11, 2026.

Cause Title: Delhi Development Authority v. Mala Sahni Seth (Neutral Citation:2026:DHC:8534-DB)

Appearance

Appellant: Standing Counsel Mrinalini Sen, Advocate Gauri Rajput

Respondent: Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, Chief Govt Standing Counsel Ashish K Dixit, Advocates Umar Hashmi, Ayush Kumar, Amit Kumar, Naman, Secretary for UOI/ MOHUA /L&DO D. Thara, Advocates Saurabh Seth, Sukrit Seth, Neelampreet Kaur, Abhiroop Rathore, Kabir Dev, Sukhvir Singh, Government Counsel (GP) Rajveer Pandey

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Delhi High CourtJustice Pratibha M. SinghJustice Vikas Mahajan

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.