Delhi protest booking rules are now operational at Ramlila Maidan, but arrangements for the Burari and CBD grounds remain incomplete five days after Delhi Police ordered protests to be shifted from Jantar Mantar to the three designated sites.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has drafted a revised standard operating procedure for Ramlila Maidan, where protests can be held free of charge after a booking is approved. Organisers must obtain a no-objection certificate from the police and deposit a refundable security amount of Rs 5,000.
According to the MCD, the booking process for Ramlila Maidan is open and currently operates offline. Applicants must visit the City-Sadar Paharganj zone office and submit a manual application on their organisation’s letterhead, Aadhaar details and the police NOC. After the documents are submitted, the deputy commissioner of the zone will clear the application and allot a date, the civic body said.
The process is less settled at the two sites managed by the Delhi Development Authority. At CBD Ground in east Delhi, online booking is available through the DDA website, but the menu does not include a category for protests or dharnas. This leaves organisers without a clearly defined digital route to apply specifically for an agitation.
The CBD Ground also has competing commercial bookings. A DDA official said the approximately 3,000-square-metre plot is leased to event companies for marriages and other functions and remains booked for months. Protest dates will be allotted only when the ground has no existing booking, the official said.
The listed booking cost for the CBD Ground is Rs 1.8 lakh per day, including Rs 95,000 as security charges. The report does not specify whether these standard charges will apply to protest organisers once a dedicated process is introduced.
At Burari Ground, the DDA website does not specify a booking fee because applications are handled offline. DDA sources said a file would be sent to the institutional land wing of the land disposal department to formulate standard operating procedures and rates for allocating both Burari and CBD grounds for protests.
“Normal rates can’t apply for holding agitations, so new SOPs have to be formulated for them,” a source said.
The DDA had received a direction last week to list Burari Ground online for permitting temporary events, but the protest category and fee structure have not yet been finalised. The different levels of readiness mean that the new protest arrangement currently has a functioning application process at Ramlila Maidan, while access to the DDA-controlled grounds remains dependent on pending administrative rules, website changes and land availability.
The shift follows the Delhi Police order moving protests away from Jantar Mantar to Ramlila Maidan, Burari and CBD grounds. The next administrative steps are the DDA’s formulation of protest-specific SOPs and rates for the two grounds under its control.
