Delhi’s local bodies have initiated the process for recommending another extension of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act—which essentially grants blanket protection to any illegal construction in unauthorised colonies that came up before June 2014, multiple officials aware of the matter said.
The development comes at a time when the national capital has witnessed multiple building collapses in the city’s unplanned settlements. Each successive government responded with regularisation schemes, amnesty provisions and special laws that allowed these settlements to remain, while rarely addressing the underlying shortage of planned housing and commercial space. The act is likely to be granted another three-year extension before it lapses in December 2026. To further add to the protection blanket, on April 7, 2026, the central government announced the regularisation of 1,511 unauthorised colonies in Delhi on an ‘as-is-where-is’ basis, with an estimated population of 4.5 million. Official data from the MCD shows that only 137 applications have been submitted by the residents of these colonies, while 22 have been approved. The October 31 deadline was announced by the government in July. On April 7, Union housing and urban affairs minister Manohar Lal announced that properties in these colonies could be regularised without approved layout plans, easing a key requirement that had complicated the process.
“We have already submitted our report in this regard, and the act is once again likely to be extended for three years later this year. Parliament will have the final say, but the scale of the problem is such that protection will have to be extended; otherwise, lakhs of buildings will fall under the category for punitive action and demolitions,” the official added. Illegal structures that came up in Delhi before June 2014 are protected from punitive action under the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, passed by Parliament. However, experts argue that the provision, initially meant to remain in force for just one year, has become a loophole and that the government needs to relook at it when the current extension expires in December 2026. The genesis of the regulatory protection dates to February 2006, when the MCD launched a city-wide sealing drive following court orders. The scale of unauthorised construction and other violations was so large that Parliament intervened, with the then UPA government passing the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006.
