The Delhi Development Authority is set to undergo a change of role to keep up with the development needs of Delhi.
The Union Urban Development Ministry has proposed to reassess the role of DDA to meet the diverse and emerging development needs of the city. Minister of Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu has set up a 14-member Committee to revisit and redraft the Delhi Development Act, 1957, under which the DDA was set up.
The committee will assess the adequacy of the provisions of the Delhi Development Act, 1957, and the role of the DDA under the Act. It will suggest measures to be taken to enable the DDA to play the role of a facilitator and regulator. The DDA currently plays the role of a ‘developer’.
The committee would be submitting drafts, acts and rules in three months time.
It will be headed by Madhukar Gupta, IAS (retd.), who was a former Vice-Chairman of DDA. The members include S.K. Tandon, former commissioner of Land Acquisition, DDA, Sharda Prasad, former commissioner of Land Acquisition, DDA, K.P. Laxman Rao, former member (Finance), DDA and A.K. Jain, former commissioner of Planning, DDA.
Ex-officio members of the committee include: Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Chief Planner, Town and Country Planning Organisation, Secretary, Delhi Urban Arts Commission, Chairman, NDMC, Municipal Commissioners of the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi and Secretary, DDA who will also be the Member Secretary of the Committee.
The chairman of the committee has been authorised to co-opt two other members as experts from outside the government.
