The Delhi Development Act, 1957

(1) This Act may be called the Delhi DevelopmentAct, 1957. (2) It extends to the whole of the 1[National Capital Territory of Delhi]. (3) It shall come into force on such date2as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) "amenity" includes road, water supply, street lighting, drainage, sewerage, public works andsuch other convenience as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette,specify to be an amenity for the purposes of this Act; (b) "building" includes any structure or erection or part of a structure or erection which isintended to be used for residential, industrial, commercial or other purposes, whether in actual use ornot; (c) "building operations" includes rebuilding operations, structural alterations of or additions tobuildings and other operations normally undertaken in connection with the construction of buildings; (d) "development" with its grammatical variations means the carrying out of building,engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land or the making of any materialchange in any building or land and includes redevelopment; (e) "development area" means any area declared to be a development area under sub-section (1)of section 12; (f) "engineering operations" includes the formation or laying out of means of access to a road orthe laying out of means of water supply; (g) "means of access" includes any means of access whether private or public, for vehicles or forfoot passengers, and includes a road; (h) "regulation" means a regulation made under this Act by the Delhi Development Authorityconstituted under section 3; (i) "rule" means a rule made under this Act by the Central Government; (j) "to erect" in relation to any building includes (i) any material alteration or enlargement of any building, (ii) the conversion by structural alteration into a place for human habitation of any buildingnot originally constructed for human habitation, (iii) the conversion into more than one place for human habitation of a building originallyconstructed as one such place, (iv) the conversion of two or more places of human habitation into a greater number of suchplaces, (v) such alterations of a building as affect an alteration of its drainage or sanitaryarrangements, or materially affect its security, (vi) the addition of any rooms, buildings, houses or other structures to any building, and (vii) the construction in a wall adjoining any street or land not belonging to the owner of thewall, of a door opening on to such street or land; (k) "zone" means any one of the divisions in which Delhi may be divided for the purposes ofdevelopment under this Act; 1[(l) the expression "land" shall have the meaning assigned to it in section 3 of the LandAcquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894).]

(1) As soon as may be after the commencement of this Act,the Central Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute for the purposes of thisAct an authority to be called the Delhi Development Authority (hereinafter referred to as the Authority). (2) The Authority shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid having perpetual succession and acommon seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable and tocontract and shall by the said name sue and be sued. (3) The Authority shall consist of the following members, namely:-- (a) a chairman who shall be the 1[Lieutenant Governor] of the 2[National Capital Territory ofDelhi], ex officio; (b) a vice-chairman to be appointed by the Central Government; (c) a finance and accounts member to be appointed by the Central Government; (d) an engineer member to be appointed by the Central Government; (e) as and when the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is established, two representatives of thatCorporation to be elected by the councillors and aldermen of the Corporation from amongthemselves; 3[(f) three representatives of the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhito be elected by means of a single transferable vote by the members of the Legislative Assembly fromamong themselves of which two shall be from among the ruling party and one from the party inopposition to the Government: Provided that no member of the Council of Ministers for the Government of National CapitalTerritory of Delhi shall be eligible to be elected to the Authority. Explanation.--For the purposes of this clause, "ruling party" and "party in opposition toGovernment" shall mean the ruling party and the party in opposition to the Government recognised assuch by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi;] 4[(g) three other persons to be nominated by the Central Government, of whom one shall be aperson with experience of town planning or architecture; and] (h) the Commisioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, ex officio. 5[(3A) The appointment of the vice-chairman may be either whole-time or part-time as the CentralGovernment may think fit but the appointment of the finance and accounts member and the engineermember shall be whole-time.] 6[(4) The vice-chairman, if he is a whole-time member, the finance and accounts member and theengineer member shall be entitled to receive from the funds of the Authority such salaries and suchallowances, if any, and governed by such conditions of service as may be determined by rules made inthis behalf. (5) The vice-chairman, if he is a part-time member, and other members specified in clause (e),clause (f) and clause (g) of sub-section (3) may be paid from the funds of the Authority such allowances,if any, as may be fixed by the Central Government in this behalf.] (6) The vice-chairman, the finance and accounts member, the engineer member and the 7[threemembers] referred to in clause (g) of sub-section (3) shall hold office during the pleasure of the CentralGovernment 8***. 9[(7) An elected member shall hold office for a term of five years from the date of his election to theAuthority and shall be eligible for re-election: Provided that such term shall come to an end as soon as the member ceases to be a member of thebody from which he was elected.] (9) A member other than an ex officio member may resign his office by writing under his handaddressed to the Central Government but shall continue in office until his resignation is accepted by thatGovernment. (10) No act or proceedings of the Authority shall be invalid by reason of the existence of any vacancyin, or defect in the constitution of, the Authority.

(1) The Central Government may appoint two suitable personsrespectively as the secretary and the chief accounts officer of the Authority who shall exercise suchpowers and perform such duties as may be prescribed by regulations or delegated to them by theAuthority or the chairman. (2) Subject to such control and restrictions as may be prescribed by rules, the Authority may appointsuch number of other officers and employees (including experts for technical work) as may be necessaryfor the efficient performance of its functions and may determine their designations and grades. (3) The secretary, chief accounts officer and other officers and employees of the Authority shall beentitled to receive from the funds of the Authority such salaries and such allowances, if any, and shall begoverned by such conditions of service as may be determined by regulations made in this behalf.

(1) The Authority shall, as soon as may be, constitute an advisory council forthe purpose of advising the Authority on the preparation of the master plan and 1[on such other mattersrelating to the planning of development, or] arising out of, or in connection with, the administration ofthis Act as may be referred to it by the Authority. (2) The advisory council shall consist of the following members, namely:-- (a) the chairman of the Authority, ex officio, who shall be the president; (b) two persons with knowledge of town planning or architecture to be nominated by the CentralGovernment; (c) one representative of the Health Services of Delhi administration to be nominated by theCentral Government; (d) four representatives of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to be elected by the councillorsand aldermen from among themselves; 2[(e) two persons representing the Delhi Electric Supply Committee and the Delhi Water Supplyand Sewage Disposal Committee of the said Corporation, of whom-- (i) one shall be elected by the members of the Delhi Electric Supply Committee from amongthemselves; and (ii) one shall be elected by the members of the Delhi Water Supply and Sewage DisposalCommittee from among themselves; (ee) one representative of the Delhi Transport Corporation to be nominated by the CentralGovernment;] (f) three persons to be nominated by the Central Government of whom one shall represents theinterests of commerce and industry and one, the interests of labour, in Delhi; (g) four persons from the technical departments of the Central Government to be nominated bythat Government; and (h) three members of Parliament of whom two shall be members of the House of the People andone shall be a member of the Council of States to be elected respectively by the members of theHouse of the People and the members of the Council of States. (3) The Council shall meet as and when necessary and shall have the power to regulate its ownprocedure. (4) An elected member shall hold office for a term of four years from the date of his election to thecouncil and shall be eligible for re-election: Provided that such term shall come to an end as soon as the member ceases to be a member of thebody from which he was elected.