HC upholds Chandigarh admn’s decision to ban floor-wise sale of houses across city

In a decision with wide ramifications, the Punjab and Haryana high court has dismissed petitions seeking quashing of Chandigarh administration’s 2023 notification, which banned conversion of residential houses into floor-wise apartments across the city.

The high court bench of justice Sureshwar Thakur and justice Vikas Suri, however, said the Chandigarh administration may reconsider the decision, but in consultation with the heritage committee onto the areas other than Phase 1, Chandigarh (Sectors 1 to 30). But this should be done strictly in terms of the prevalent rules and the Chandigarh Master Plan (CMP)-2031, it clarified.

In January 2023, the Supreme Court had ruled that the first 30 sectors of Chandigarh carried the heritage status of Le Corbusier zone and, therefore, conversion of residential houses into floor-wise apartments cannot be permitted in these sectors.

While declaring so, SC had said the Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee will consider the issue of redensification in these sectors. After that the UT administration will consider amending the CMP-2031 and the 2017 apartment rules in accordance with the committee’s recommendations. Any amendments will have to be placed before the central government for approval, the top court had said.

Later, the UT administration came out with a notification within a month, with effect from February 10, 2023, rejecting building plans of residential buildings where all co-owners were not from the same family.

However, the notification was not only for these 30 sectors but all areas of the city.

As per UT’s senior standing counsel Amit Jhanji, it was this decision, which was under challenge before the high court. The notification was also challenged by some residents living in heritage sectors, arguing that the notification was not in line with the SC order, as the heritage panel did not properly consider aspect of redensification. Also that SC was against apartmentalisation and not against share-wise sale of property.

“The decision which was taken in the meeting held on January 23, 2023, under the chairmanship of the adviser to the administrator, ex facie, is in alignment with the verdict pronounced by the apex court …the said decision cannot be tinkered with at all,” the high court bench observed.

It, however, suggested that UT may consider permitting sale of respective share(s) of a particular co-owner in a jointly owned property to single owner, as the said permission of sale would reduce the already existing apartmentalisation and would further also reduce densification in Phase 1, Chandigarh.

The court said UT’s decision was in line with statutory prohibition against fragmentation of a building through apartments.

“When the apartmentalisation/fragmentation of the building results in builders/developers proceeding to sell such apartments to different persons...the impugned notice is in complete tandem with the verdict pronounced by the apex court, wherein, there is a pronounced prohibition against both fragmentation and apartmentalisation of a specific dwelling unit or of a building...The impugned notice rather than being required to become invalidated, thus requires becoming assigned legal sanctity,” the court observed.

Bone of contention since 2001

In 2001, the UT administration had notified the Chandigarh Apartment Rules, whereby single residential units could be sub-divided into apartments. But it was repealed in October 2007. The administration has since maintained that no permission is being granted to convert residential houses into apartments.

In 2022, the Punjab and Haryana high court had ruled that residential plots in Chandigarh can have multiple shareholders, even outside the family.

This order was challenged by the Sector-15 Residents Welfare Association (RWA) before the Supreme Court, seeking an order to the administration not to permit residential plots to be constructed or utilised as apartments, leading to the top court’s January 2023 ruling, banning floor-wise apartments.

In this matter, it had come to light that between 2016 and 2019, as many as 891 sale deeds were registered by the Estate Office, wherein a part of the property was sold outside the family even as it was not allowed.

“The high court order will be challenged in Supreme Court. SC did not ban share-wise sale of property. Also there has to be a window for property owners, who have already made such sales,” said Salil Dev Singh Bali, one of the petitioners’ lawyer.

Chandigarh is the country’s first planned city since Independence and has received international acclaim for its architecture and urban design. The city’s master plan was developed by French architect Le Corbusier. In 2016, UNESCO had conferred heritage status on the Capitol Complex, designed by Corbusier.