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New Delhi: Despite being entrusted with vacant railway land since 2007, the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) has failed to commercially develop the majority of sites under its charge, resulting in large-scale underutilisation of public assets. Of the 17 land parcels reviewed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), development work had commenced on only three—even after more than a decade.
The finding is part of the 27th report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. The committee, chaired by senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP KC Venugopal, has flagged deep structural issues in RLDA’s functioning and called for accountability at the senior-most levels of the organisation.
RLDA’s track record in planning and execution was a central concern in the PAC report. The PSU failed to prepare a five-year commercial development plan for over a decade, despite this being a statutory requirement under its own rules. Such a long delay in basic planning, the committee noted, stalled the strategic use of railway land and undermined RLDA’s core mandate.
Compounding these failures was RLDA’s inability to onboard a panel of approved government consultants for nearly eight years after its formation. In multiple cases, consultants were appointed as late as eight to 10 years after land had been entrusted. The committee observed that this not only delayed project initiation but also reflected poor institutional readiness.
The PAC also drew attention to RLDA’s consistently weak revenue performance. Between 2006–07 and 2016–17, RLDA spent Rs 102.29 crore on establishment and consultancy but earned only Rs 67.97 crore — most of it from small-scale multi-functional complexes, not from high-value commercial land development.
This mismatch between mandate and outcomes persisted in later years. In FY2017–18, RLDA was given a revenue target of Rs 1,195 crore but managed to earn just Rs 42.93 crore. The committee concluded that the gap between expectations and outcomes called for a serious review of RLDA’s capacity and leadership.
The committee found that regulatory delays at the state level were another major hurdle. Despite a 2018 Union Cabinet decision that railway land does not require change of land use for commercial development, only five states had issued instructions to local bodies in compliance. The resulting inaction has continued to hold up projects across the country.
In addition, RLDA’s refusal to allow subleasing of undivided land shares was flagged as a major deterrent to financing. The committee noted that this restriction runs counter to provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) and affects both developers’ ability to raise capital and end-users’ ability to obtain loans. Amendments are currently under consideration.
The PAC also criticised RLDA and the Ministry of Railways for failing to establish a policy for the rehabilitation of informal vendors displaced by commercial projects. The committee said the absence of such a policy raises serious concerns about the social impact of urban redevelopment on railway land.
In its concluding observations, the committee demanded a complete re-evaluation of RLDA’s institutional performance and called for accountability to be fixed on senior officials responsible for delays and underperformance. It also recommended reforms to land policy, regulatory coordination, and financial norms to ensure RLDA meets its development and revenue generation objectives.
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