Delhi's 2026 District Map: Court Marriage in Shakur Basti

What happened on 1 January 2026

The Delhi government notified a reorganisation of the National Capital Territory's revenue districts on 25 December 2025, with effect from 1 January 2026.

Eleven districts became thirteen. Thirty-three sub-divisions became thirty-nine.

Three districts were created: Old Delhi, Central North and Outer North. Shahdara ceased to be a district, and the name now belongs to a sub-division of North East.

Nothing on the ground moved. Every locality in Delhi is exactly where it was. What changed is the administrative heading above it - which district a sub-division belongs to, and in seven cases whether a sub-division exists under that name at all.

For a couple registering a marriage, this matters in one narrow way: the jurisdiction rules are stated in terms of districts, so you need to know which district you are in. And it matters in one broader way, which is that a great deal of published material - guides, agent listings, directory pages, older government pages that have not been refreshed - still describes the old map. If two sources contradict each other about which district a locality sits in, the likeliest explanation is that one of them predates this year.

The complete map: 13 districts, 39 sub-divisions

Here is the whole thing in one place. Find your locality's sub-division, read across to the district, and that is the district whose rules apply to you.

The seven names that are not on the new list

This is the part that causes the most confusion, so it is worth being explicit.

Seven sub-divisions that existed before the reorganisation are not among the thirty-nine created on 1 January 2026: Chanakyapuri, Vasant Vihar, Civil Lines, Kotwali, Alipur, Saraswati Vihar and Kanjhawala.

That does not mean the places have gone. Chanakyapuri is still Chanakyapuri; Civil Lines is still Civil Lines; the lanes of Kotwali are exactly where they were. What has gone is the sub-division heading of that name.

It also does not mean anything you already hold has stopped working. A marriage certificate issued by any of those offices remains a valid certificate - a certificate records that a marriage was registered on a date by an officer who held that authority then, and no later reorganisation reaches back and unmakes it. Our Shahdara page deals with this at length, because that question comes up constantly.

What it does mean is that if a page, a form or a person confidently directs you to 'the SDM Kanjhawala office' or tells you that Shahdara is a district, their information is at least a year old - and in this field a year matters. Our pages for Chanakyapuri, Vasant Vihar, Civil Lines, Kotwali, Alipur, Saraswati Vihar and Kanjhawala each explain where files from those areas go now.

Four other sub-divisions survived but changed district: Patel Nagar moved from West to Central; Sadar Bazar from Central to the new Old Delhi; Narela from North to the new Outer North; and Model Town from North to the new Central North.

• Not on the new list: Chanakyapuri, Vasant Vihar, Civil Lines, Kotwali, Alipur, Saraswati Vihar, Kanjhawala
• Changed district: Patel Nagar (West to Central)
• Changed district: Sadar Bazar (Central to Old Delhi)
• Changed district: Narela (North to Outer North)
• Changed district: Model Town (North to Central North)
• No longer a district: Shahdara, now a sub-division of North East
• Certificates issued by any former office remain valid

Central North, and Shakur Basti in it

Central North is one of the three districts created by the reorganisation. It comprises three sub-divisions: Shakur Basti, Model Town and Shalimar Bagh.

Shakur Basti covers the Shakur Basti and Shakurpur belt, Paschim Vihar side, Rani Bagh, Tri Nagar and the colonies along the railway corridor and Outer Ring Road. Model Town came across from the North district. Shalimar Bagh sits between them.

Being in a district created this year has one practical implication: published contact directories, forms and third-party listings take time to catch up, and an office may be unfamiliar with a district name that is eight months old. If you are redirected once, treat it as a transition rather than as obstruction.

The Revenue Department's published counter window applies as it does everywhere in Delhi: 9.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on any working day, at the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate in whose jurisdiction either the husband or the wife resides. Its separate registration of marriage page gives 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m., so reach the office by 9.30 and be prepared to wait.

The clause that means nobody is stranded

This is the reassurance that makes the rest of the transition manageable, and it is worth knowing before you go anywhere.

Clause 5 of the Delhi (Compulsory Registration of Marriage) Order, 2014 provides that the Marriage Officer within whose district the marriage has been solemnised has jurisdiction to register it - and then adds the proviso that does the real work: 'the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Head Quarter), Additional District Magistrate and District Magistrate of Delhi shall have concurrent jurisdiction over entire Delhi to register any marriage solemnized in Delhi within any Revenue District of Union Territory of Delhi.'

Three named authorities, concurrent jurisdiction, the entire National Capital Territory, for any marriage solemnised anywhere in Delhi.

So whatever confusion exists about which sub-division a locality now sits in, there is always an authority with jurisdiction. A reorganisation cannot produce a marriage that no office in Delhi is competent to register.

Alongside that, the Revenue Department's published jurisdiction rule for registration is residence-based: applicants apply to the office in whose territorial jurisdiction either of them resides. And where the marriage was solemnised in Delhi but the applicants were not residing in Delhi, the application goes to the office in whose jurisdiction the marriage was solemnised.

Between the residence rule, the solemnisation rule and clause 5's concurrent jurisdiction, every situation has an answer.

Nothing about the law changed

Worth stating plainly, because a reorganisation of this size invites the belief that everything is different now. It is not.

The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is unchanged. Notice under section 5 to the Marriage Officer of a district where at least one party has resided for thirty days immediately preceding; publication under section 6; thirty days for objections under section 7, on the four section 4 grounds only; solemnisation on or after the thirty-first day before three witnesses under section 11; certificate under section 13, which section 13(2) makes conclusive evidence of the marriage. And section 14 still lapses a notice if the marriage is not solemnised within three calendar months of it.

The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 is unchanged. Section 7 still provides that where the rites include saptapadi, the marriage is complete and binding on the seventh step. Section 8 still governs registration, and section 8(5) still provides that the validity of a Hindu marriage is in no way affected by the omission to make the entry.

The Delhi Order 2014 is unchanged. Sixty days under clause 4(a) on a fee of Rs 200; appearance in person with two witnesses holding Delhi permanent residence proof under clause 4(d); condonation of up to sixty further days on Rs 500 under clause 6; a Rs 1,000 penalty beyond that under clause 7, remittable by the Additional District Magistrate or District Magistrate; the optional priority facility for Rs 10,000 under clause 10. The Revenue Department's Hindu Marriage Act page still states Rs 100 on that route.

The document lists are unchanged. Age proof: matriculation certificate, passport or birth certificate. Residence proof: voter I-Card, ration card, driving licence or passport.

So the reorganisation changed one thing for you - which office. Everything else you may have read about the process still holds.