THE DELHI LANDS (RESTRICTIONS ON TRANSFER) ACT, 1972 
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ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 

1.  Short title, extent and commencement. 
2.  Definitions. 
3.  Prohibition on transfer of lands acquired by Central Government. 
4.  Regulation on transfer of lands in relation to which acquisition proceedings have been initiated. 
5.  Application for grant of permission for transfer under section 4. 
6.  Appeals against orders of competent authority. 
7.  Period of operation of orders of refusal to grant permission to transfer land. 
8.  Restrictions on registration of transfers of land. 
9.  Penalty. 
10.  Offences by companies. 
11.  Power to make rules. 

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THE DELHI LANDS (RESTRICTIONS ON TRANSFER) ACT, 1972 

ACT NO. 30 OF 1972 

[14th June, 1972.] 

An  Act  to  impose  certain  restrictions  on  transfer  of  lands  which  have  been  acquired  by  the 
Central  Government  or  in  respect  of  which  acquisition  proceedings  have  been  initiated  by 
that Government, with a view to preventing large-scale transactions of purported transfers or, 
as the case may be, transfers of such lands to unwary public. 

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-third Year of the Republic of India as follows:— 

1.  Short  title,  extent  and  commencement.—(1)  This  Act  may  be  called  the  Delhi  Lands 

(Restrictions on Transfer) Act, 1972. 

(2) It extends to the whole of the Union territory of Delhi. 

(3) It shall come into force at once. 

2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— 

(a)  “Administrator”  means  the  administrator  of  the  Union  territory  of  Delhi appointed  by  the 

President under article 239 of the Constitution; 

(b)  “competent  authority”  means  any  person  or  authority  authorised  by  the  Administrator,  by 
notification in the Official Gazette, to perform the functions of the competent authority under this Act 
for such areas as may be specified in the notification; 

(c) “Development Act” means the Delhi Development Act, 1957 (61 of 1957); 

(d) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act; 

(e) “Scheme” means the scheme of acquisition of land for the planned development of Delhi and 
includes any scheme, project or work to be implemented in pursuance of the provisions of the Delhi 
Master  Plan  as  approved  by  the  Central  Government  under  sub-section  (2)  of  section  9  of  the 
Development Act. 

3. Prohibition on transfer of lands acquired by Central Government.—No person shall purport to 
transfer  by  sale,  mortgage,  gift,  lease  or  otherwise  any  land  or  part  thereof  situated  in  the  Union     
territory  of  Delhi,  which  has  been  acquired  by  the  Central  Government  under  the  Land  Acquisition                     
Act, 1984 (1 of 1984), or under any other law providing for acquisition of land for a public purpose. 

4.  Regulation  on  transfer  of  lands  in  relation  to  which  acquisition  proceedings  have  been 
initiated.—No person shall, except with the previous permission in writing of the competent authority, 
transfer or purport to transfer by sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise any land or part thereof situated 
in the Union territory of Delhi, which is proposed to be acquired in connection with the Scheme and in 
relation  to  which  a  declaration  to  the  effect  that  such  land  or  part  thereof  is  needed  for  a  public       
purpose  having  been  made  by  the  Central  Government  under  section  6  of  the  Land  Acquisition                          
Act, 1894 (1 of 1894), the Central Government has not withdrawn from the acquisition under section 48 
of that Act. 

5. Application for grant of permission for transfer under section 4.—(1) Any person desiring to 
transfer  any  land  referred  to  in  section  4  by  sale,  mortgage,  gift,  lease  or  otherwise  may  make  an 
application in writing to the competent authority containing such particulars as may be prescribed. 

(2)  On  receipt  of  an  application  under  sub-section  (1),  the  competent  authority  shall,  after  making 
such inquiries as it deems fit, may, by order in writing, grant or refuse to grant the permission applied for. 

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(3)  The  competent  authority  shall  not  refuse  to  grant  the  permission  applied  for  under  this  section 

except on one or more of the following grounds, namely:— 

(i)  that  the  land  is  needed  or  is  likely  to  be  needed  for  the  effective  implementation  of  the 

Scheme; 

(ii)  that  the  land  is  needed  or  is  likely  to  be  needed  for  securing  the  objects  of  the  Delhi 

Development Authority referred to in section 6 of the Development Act; 

(iii) that the land is needed or is likely to be needed for any development within the meaning of 
clause (d) of section 2 of the Development Act or for such things as public buildings and other public 
works  and  utilities,  roads,  housing,  recreation,  industry,  business,  markets,  schools  and  other 
educational institutions, hospitals and public open spaces and other categories of public uses. 

(4)  Where  the  competent  authority  refuses  to  grant  the  permission  applied  for,  it  shall  record  in 

writing the reasons for doing so and a copy of the same shall be communicated to the applicant. 

(5) Where within a period of thirty days of the date of receipt of an application under this section the 
competent  authority  does  not  refuse  to  grant  the  permission  applied  for  or  does  not  communicate  the 
refusal to the applicant, the competent authority shall be deemed to have granted the permission applied 
for. 

6. Appeals against orders of competent authority.—(1) Any person aggrieved by an order of the 
competent authority under section 5 may, within thirty days of the date of receipt of the order by him, file 
an appeal to the prescribed authority in such form and containing such particulars as may be prescribed. 

(2)  On  receipt  of  an  appeal  under  sub-section  (1),  the  prescribed  authority  shall,  after  giving  the 

appellant an opportunity of being heard in the matter, dispose of the appeal as expeditiously as possible. 

(3) Every order made by the prescribed authority in appeal under this section shall be final. 

7.  Period  of  operation  of  orders  of  refusal  to  grant  permission  to  transfer  land.—Where  the 
competent authority has made any order under section 5 refusing to grant permission to transfer any land 
or  where,  an  appeal  having  been  filed  against  such  order,  the  prescribed  authority  has  made  an  order 
under section 6 confirming such order, then, the order refusing to grant permission to transfer such land 
shall be in operation only for a period of three years from the date of the order made by the competent 
authority or the prescribed authority, as the case may be, and thereafter, but subject to the provisions of 
section 3, it shall be lawful for the person who has applied for permission, or his successor-in-interest, to 
transfer such land by sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise. 

Explanation.—In computing the period of three years, under this section, in relation to any land, the 
period during which the acquisition proceedings in relation to such land have been stayed by any court 
shall be excluded. 

8.  Restrictions  on  registration  of  transfers  of  land.—Notwithstanding  anything  contained  in  any 
other law for the time being in force, where any document required to be registered under the provisions 
of  clause  (a)  to  clause  (e)  of  sub-section  (1)  of  section  17  of  the  Registration  Act,  1908  (16  of  1908), 
purports  to  transfer  by  sale,  mortgage,  gift,  lease  or  otherwise  any  land  or  part  thereof  referred  to  in 
section  4,  no  registering  officer  appointed  under  that  Act  shall  register  any  such  document  unless  the 
transferor produces before such registering officer a permission in writing of the competent authority for 
such transfer. 

9. Penalty.—If any person contravenes the provisions of section 3 or section 4, he shall be punishable 

with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with both. 

10. Offences by companies.—(1) If the person committing an offence under this Act is a company, 
every person, who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the 
company for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company shall be deemed to be 
guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: 

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Provided  that  nothing  contained  in  this  sub-section  shall  render  any  such  person  liable  to  any 
punishment, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all 
due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence. 

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), when an offence under this Act has been 
committed  by  a  company  and  it  is  proved  that  the  offence  has  been  committed  with  the  consent  or 
connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other 
officer  of  the  company,  such  director,  manager,  secretary  or  other  officer  shall  also  be  deemed  to  be 
guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. 

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,— 

(a)  “company”  means  any  body  corporate  and  includes  a  firm  or  other  association  of     

individuals; and 

(b) “director”, in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm. 

11. Power to make rules.—(1) The Administrator may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make 

rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act. 

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, such rules may provide for all or 

any of the following matters, namely:— 

(a)  the  particulars  which  an  application  to  be  made  under  sub-section  (1)  of  section  5  shall 

contain; 

(b) the authority to which an appeal may be filed under sub-section (1) of section 6, the form in 

which such appeal may be filed and the particulars which such appeal shall contain; 

(c) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed. 

(3) Every rule made under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each 
House of Parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be  comprised in 
one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately 
following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in making any modification 
in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only 
in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or 
annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule. 

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