Despite administration nod, Chandigarh civic body can't sell its properties on freehold basis

Sandeep Rana

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Chandigarh, March 30

Even after getting approval from the UT Administration to e-auction properties on a freehold basis, the Municipal Corporation is still forced to auction these on a leasehold basis though it had got the nod after about three years of struggle.

With the House not giving approval in its meeting yesterday, some of these properties, which have been lying vacant for nearly a decade, will continue to remain shut. “We will have no other option but to again auction them on a leasehold basis,” said MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra.

“It is unfortunate. The MC House has missed the opportunity to earn revenue by selling properties, which were lying vacant for a long period. I, as a nominated councillor, have worked hard on the issue and in the last meeting, the House had also passed a resolution urging the UT Administration to allow the MC to sell property on a freehold basis. I urge the councillors of all parties to review the decision in the next House meeting for the benefit of the MC and general public,” said Charanjiv Singh, president, Chandigarh Beopar Mandal.

A senior MC official asked when the agenda was already cleared by the MC House and later passed even by the Administration, what was the need to bring it before the House again.

These vacant properties of the civic body are situated at seven places. These include 105 booths in Vikas Nagar, Mauli Jagran, shops in the subway, Sector 17, 18 booths in the Shopping Complex, Mauli Jagran, 40 booths at the new overbridge in Sector 17, booths at Sector 39-D and a hospital site and 20 SCF sites at Mani Majra.

Some of these properties are worth crores and falling into ruin. Maintenance issues have also cropped up as these properties never got disposed of since their construction. All prospective buyers had been pressing for selling these properties as freehold units. These properties could not be auctioned despite repeated tenders. This had forced the MC to get the agenda approved from the House and later made several requests to the Administration to consider it.