CHANDIGARH: Thirteen lots of Chandigarh heritage furniture designed by Swiss-French architect Pierre Jeanneret were auctioned in Brussels on Tuesday by auction house PIASA for an estimated total value of €196,000 to €290,000 (approximately Rs 2.13 crore to Rs 3.16 crore).
This is not the first time Chandigarh's heritage furniture has been auctioned abroad, with such sales continuing for decades.
Concerned over the unchecked auction of heritage furniture linked to Chandigarh in foreign countries, heritage activist Ajay Jagga has sought immediate diplomatic intervention to halt the sale of such items to private collectors worldwide. He said the furniture was being auctioned abroad "without any resistance from the Indian Government or its missions".
The latest sale was flagged by Chandigarh-based lawyer and heritage activist Ajay Jagga, a member of an apex heritage committee set up by the Chandigarh Administration to inventory, trace and prevent the illicit trafficking of iconic mid-century modern heritage furniture.
Jagga sent a representation to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, seeking urgent diplomatic intervention before the auction concluded.
He sought sensitisation of Indian missions abroad, a formal advisory to monitor international auction houses, a coordinated mechanism involving the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India, and a domestic probe into how marked government assets continue to leave the country.
Jagga noted that, unlike some earlier instances, the Brussels lots carried no visible inventory numbers, even though their institutional provenance was openly declared in the auction catalogue.
"Several auction houses are openly displaying original institutional markings and inscriptions identifying their provenance from Chandigarh and Punjab government establishments. Such markings not only establish authenticity and ownership but also substantially strengthen India's claim for recovery and repatriation. There appears to be no visible effort to challenge these sales or secure the return of such heritage property," the letter stated.
"The continued auction of Chandigarh heritage articles abroad is not an isolated incident but a systemic and ongoing loss of India’s cultural identity," he wrote.
Jagga also demanded the invocation of Article 49 of the Constitution, which obliges the State to protect objects of national importance from export or disposal, along with Articles 51A(f) and 51A(i), which relate to the duty of citizens to preserve heritage and safeguard public property.
According to him, more than a dozen auctions of Jeanneret-designed furniture have already taken place during 2025-26.
On June 4, seven pieces of heritage furniture were auctioned in the United States for USD 139,520 (Rs 1.32 crore). The items, linked to Panjab University, the Central Library and MLA Flats, were sold by Chicago-based Wright Auction House.
Among the most expensive lots was a pair of lounge chairs from Panjab University, which fetched USD 44,800 (around Rs 42.5 lakh), significantly exceeding its upper estimate of USD 30,000.
A pair of heritage chairs and a set of four low stools from the Punjab MLA Hostel in Sector 4, Chandigarh, fetched USD 72,720, or more than Rs 59 lakh. The chairs were sold for over Rs 42 lakh, while the stools fetched more than Rs 17 lakh. The sale raised questions over the preservation of assets linked to the state's legislative institutions.
Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan subsequently sought a custody report from the Chandigarh Administration regarding the auction of MLA hostel heritage furniture in the United States.
A high-level meeting was held with officials of the Union Territory administration to determine the custodianship of the items, as heritage furniture is held by various authorities of the Punjab and Haryana governments and the Chandigarh Administration, which maintains inventory records of such assets.
Earlier, Jagga had flagged another round of sales by Wright Auction House in the United States. He said the auction house had claimed to have sold 400 pieces worth USD 5.5 million over the previous decade. He also argued that, despite repeated instances of such sales, no structured institutional or diplomatic response mechanism had been developed.
On March 25, an auction house in Milan, Italy, sold a pair of wooden armchairs (model PJ-SI-29-A) with cane seats and backrests, originally part of administrative office furniture in Chandigarh and produced in India in 1956, for €9,500 (approximately Rs 10.36 lakh).
In May, four lots of furniture, including a pigeonhole desk, file rack and a set of four chairs, were auctioned by Sworders Auction House in the United Kingdom for a combined £20,800 (approximately Rs 21.8 lakh).
Jagga said the heritage items were originally commissioned for government institutions in Chandigarh under the vision of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who engaged architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret to design the city.
