Panel to build portal for PG registration
Delhi Education and Urban Development Minister Ashish Sood chaired the first meeting of a 20-member High-Powered Committee on Student Accommodation and Safety on Tuesday, with the panel deciding to develop a central portal within 15 days for PG owners to register their facilities, detailing building age, structure size and fire safety measures.
The committee was constituted by the Lieutenant Governor to review and address the acute shortage, safety standards and regulation of student housing across the capital.
Chaired by Sood, the panel is tasked with providing overarching policy direction, ensuring coordination between agencies, and submitting its final recommendations within 60 days.
The committee brings together senior civic and administrative officials, including the Chief Secretary of Delhi, the Delhi Police Commissioner, the MCD Commissioner, the NDMC Chairperson and the DDA Vice-Chairperson, along with secretaries from the Home, Revenue, Health, Urban Development, Law and PWD departments, and the Chief Fire Officer. Vice-Chancellors of Delhi University, GGSIPU, Ambedkar University Delhi, NSUT and DTU are also part of the panel, with the Principal Secretary or Secretary of Education serving as Member Secretary.
According to its terms of reference, the committee will focus on five key areas. The first involves assessing the gap between university hostel capacity and student inflow, while exploring higher Floor Area Ratio permissions to allow on-campus expansion.
The second involves identifying under-utilised Government or DDA properties, such as vacant housing in Narela, for conversion into hostels with adequate public transport connectivity.
The third area covers PG regulation, including creation of a mandatory registration framework and central database for institutional and private PG housing, regulation of lease agreements, curbing arbitrary electricity surcharges, and introducing zone-wise rent bands.
The fourth focuses on structural and fire safety, covering mandatory structural audits, fire safety checks, emergency evacuation protocols and regular mock drills for both operators and students.
The fifth involves setting up a centralised digital dashboard allowing students to report overcrowding, building safety hazards and lease violations for time-bound resolution. Beyond the PG registration portal, the committee also decided to develop a separate central portal within 15 days to map student data across all universities and institutions in Delhi.
The Delhi Development Authority and the Urban Development Department have been tasked with identifying suitable land parcels for constructing new hostels.
The committee will additionally draft new laws and regulations governing PG accommodations, with all stakeholders, including the Training and Technical Education department, participating in framing these rules.
