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2. The petitioner also asserts that the entire village of Mahipalpur The 1954 Act was declared as an urbanized village in terms of the notification issued under Section 507 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 19572 and is in the nature of an unauthorised colony which is likely to be regularised in light of the provisions made in the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provision) Second (Amendment) Act, 2017. During course of submissions, learned counsel for the petitioner had also sought to claim the benefits which according to him would flow from the provisions incorporated in the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Act, 2019. The notice of 16 April 2018 required the petitioner to remove his unauthorised possession as existing upon Khasra No.1030 consequent to a demarcation exercise which had been undertaken. The respondents assert that the khasras in question form part of a water body and thus the petitioners are in unauthorised occupation and cannot in any case claim regularisation thereof. As per the disclosures made in the counter affidavit, Khasra No. 1030 stands recorded as a water body falling in the revenue estate of village Mahipalpur and Khasra No.1033 has been recorded as "Gair Mumkin Pahad" in the relevant revenue records.

5. The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second Act, 20114, came to be promulgated essentially to place in abeyance all enforcement action that may have been liable to be taken for removal of encroachments on government land till such time as a scheme and orderly arrangements had been made for regularisation of unauthorised colonies and illegal encroachments. The provisions of the aforesaid enactment have been extended from time to time by subsequent amending acts with the last granted in terms of the provisions made and contained in the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Act, 2021. In terms of the provisions of the aforesaid enactment, the restraint on coercive and punitive action, came to be extended up to 31 December 2023. During the currency of the aforesaid enactment, the Union Government had also promulgated the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Act, 2019. The expression "resident" has been defined under the aforesaid act as being a person having physical possession of the property and residing in unauthorised colonies. An unauthorised colony has been defined under the aforesaid Act to mean a colony or development which has come up without any permission or approval having been obtained from the Delhi Development Authority5. Section 3 of the aforesaid enactment which attempts to regularise occupation notwithstanding the transaction with respect to the immovable property in question being not liable to be accorded legal recognition reads thus:-

"3. Recognition of property rights.--(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (2 of 1899) and the Registration Act, 1908 (16 of 1908) as applicable to the National Capital Territory of Delhi or any rules or regulations or bye-laws made there under and the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Suraj Lamp & Industries (P) Ltd. Vs. State of Haryana & others, dated the 11th October, 2011, the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, regularise the transactions of immovable properties based on the latest Power of Attorney, Agreement to Sale, Will, possession letter and other documents including documents evidencing payment of consideration for conferring or recognising right of ownership or transfer or mortgage in regard to an immovable property in favour of a resident of an unauthorised colony.

(5) No stamp duty and registration charges shall be payable on any previous sale transactions made prior to any transaction referred to in sub-section (4).

(6) The tenants, licensees or permissive users shall not be considered for conferring or recognising any property rights under this Act."

6. It would also be pertinent to note that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in the Union Government has also framed the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Regulations, 2019. Those regulations seek to regularise the occupation of land upon which unauthorised colonies may have come up on the payment of charges specified in Regulation 4. It also obligates DDA to prepare local area plans and development control norms for all unauthorised colonies and clusters and to incorporate consequential amendments in the Master Plan for Delhi ["MPD-2021"] and Urban Building Bye Laws for Delhi ["UBBL-2016"]. In terms of Regulation 6, cut-off dates of 01 June 2014 and 01 January 2015 have been identified for the purposes of identification of eligible new colonies. Regulation 7 specifies the category of land which would stand excluded and reads thus:-