Land policies in Delhi : their contribution to unauthorised land development

Abstract

Government intervention in land markets through public land policies increasingly sought \nfor a more balanced development, better income and wealth distribution, and to satisfy the \nbasic human needs such as housing and essential services in developing countries. Delhi's \nlarge-scale land acquisition, development and disposal policy has aimed at orderly growth \nof planned development, and universal access to housing land through public \nexpropriation, banking, development and delivery. But the policy has been widely \ncriticised for failing to promote planned development and consequently creating large-scale \nillegal land developments and sales. \nThe present research investigates the impact of Delhi's public land policy on the \ncreation of informal land developments and unauthorised housing in Delhi. The analysis of \ndata gathered from office records and exhaustive structured interviews yield substantial \nevidence that the large-scale land policy governing the public authority's delivery of land \nfor housing, has indeed been a major contributor to the creation of unauthorised land \ndevelopment and sales. \nThrough interviews with 300 households living on illegally developed land, 106 \nliving on illegally resold (legally developed land), 28 who had illegally resold their plots, \nand 69 property agents, this study found that the large-scale public land policy has not \nprovided adequate land for housing. The policy's inability to deliver timely and adequate \nquantities of affordable land in varying parcel sizes, and with flexible lease conditions, was \na prime factor in encouraging a large number of households to opt for illegally developed \nor sold land. \nThe responses of households indicate a substantial number sought illegally to obtain \nhousing land, because the large-scale public land policy failed to offer them legal \nalternatives that were affordable, adequate in quantity, in the desired time and flexible in \ntheir lease conditions. The opportunities to obtain varying sizes of unauthorised plots, at \ncheaper prices, in the desired time, with flexible payments, and acceptable terms of \nconstruction and use have attracted a large number of middle and high income households. \nEqually, the policy of regularisation of some unauthorised developments has also \nencouraged investment in additional illegal development. \nThis research also found that the public land policy's failure to deliver the right land \nto the right person at reasonable prices prompted unauthorised resales of legally developed \nplots, in effect, downward filtration of high income groups. The higher resale prices that \nthese subsidised plots obtained, and the ability of some households to obtain an allocation \nof more than one plot encouraged a large number of households to illegally resell plots.

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