The Centre is working to digitise and consolidate Delhi’s land records, a major issue for development in the national capital, Union Capital Development Secretary D Thara said on Tuesday.
Speaking at an Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) event, Thara added that Delhi needs to invest in a virtual database to consolidate all land records. “The most important thing is land records digitisation and having collated records at one place. Delhi has a major issue in this space. This is being worked on and addressed,” she said.
This comes as the Government of Delhi has proposed to introduce the Delhi Land Records Bill, 2026, under which it will survey all residential and commercial properties in both rural and urban areas and digitise the records.
The new Bill aims to create a unified database, where records will be linked to the state government’s family card initiative, aimed at creating a household bank and streamlining the distribution of welfare schemes, healthcare benefits and other government services.
A land digitisation programme for urban areas was first proposed in the July 2024 Union Budget by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
According to the Economic Survey 2023-24, digitisation of land records is poised to improve transparency in land transactions, enhance the efficiency of land management, and diminish property ownership conflicts.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an Assocham event, Thara added that the Master Plan for Delhi’s (MPD’s) focus on transit-oriented development (ToD) aims to simplify a process that has remained largely unimplemented until now.
The MPD 2047 permits a floor area ratio (FAR) of 500 for ToD projects within 500 metres of Metro corridors, railway stations, and regional rapid transit system nodes.
The new norms, however, will apply to plots with a minimum area of 2,000 square feet alongside an 18-metre road, with 65 per cent of the permissible FAR earmarked for residential use.
Thara added that potential demand for smaller residential units near Metro stations should make such developments more viable. She said the government has faced significant inconvenience due to a lack of unified organisations in Delhi. “We have created a single-window mechanism, reducing the need for developers to approach multiple agencies,” she said.
