DDA must process 1,373 pending leasehold-to-freehold applications at filing-date rates within two months, Delhi High Court rules

The DDA’s IDLI portal for leasehold-to-freehold conversion applications had been non-functional since 2 January 2026, following a MoHUA communication requiring a policy decision on conversion charges.

Despite successive court directions, the authorities had not finalised a policy or restored the portal.

The Court was informed that 1,373 applications were pending and that DDA had collected Rs. 155.06 crore; all those applications remained unprocessed.

In an earlier order, the Court had stated that a new policy would be prospective and that pending applications for which payment had been received should be processed under the policy in force when the applications were filed.

MoHUA subsequently maintained that mere filing or payment did not create an indefeasible right to conversion at the rates then prevailing.

1. Whether pending leasehold-to-freehold conversion applications for which DDA had received payment should be processed under the policy in force on the application date, despite the absence of a final policy decision.

2. Whether the authorities could be granted further time to formulate a policy before processing pending applications and enabling fresh applications through the IDLI portal.

The Court relied on the principle, discussed in Neera Sharma v. Delhi Development Authority, W.P.(C) 5180/2012, that conversion charges for an application are governed by the charges applicable when that application was filed.

It held that a subsequently announced policy would operate prospectively and that pending applications for which payment had been received must be processed under the policy prevalent at the relevant time.

The judgment identifies no statute as the basis for this direction.

The Court found that the authorities had received repeated opportunities and directions to resolve the policy issue but had made no substantive progress, while the portal remained closed and a substantial number of paid applications remained pending.

Given the prior conclusion that a new policy would be prospective, the Court rejected continued inaction as a basis for withholding decisions on existing applications.

It considered it just to require those applications to be assessed under the policy applicable when filed, while allowing time to formulate a policy for future applications.

For fresh applications, the policy was to be formulated and placed before the Court by the next hearing; the matters were listed for 11 December 2026, with MoHUA’s Secretary and DDA’s Vice-Chairman directed to join the proceedings.