Seven out of 13 lots of Pierre Jeanneret-designed furniture from Chandigarh’s Capitol Project were sold at a Brussels auction on June 18, fetching a combined €160,938 — approximately Rs 1.6 crore — even after heritage activist Ajay Jagga had given advance written intimation to the Union Ministries of External Affairs and Culture two days before the sale.Jagga, a member of the Heritage Protection Cell, Chandigarh, had on June 18 alerted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat about the impending sale by auction house PIASA, seeking urgent diplomatic intervention to halt it.In a follow-up representation sent today, he expressed disappointment that the auction went ahead unchecked despite the prior warning. “Despite such advance intimation, 7 out of 13 identified items were auctioned on 18 June 2026,” he wrote, adding pointedly: “What action, if any, was taken by the concerned authorities after receiving prior information regarding the proposed sale of these heritage objects?”The auction house listed the provenance of the sold pieces as administrative buildings, Panjab University, and the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh. Jagga clarified in his letter that “administrative buildings” in such catalogue listings is not confined to the Chandigarh Administration alone but spans structures across Punjab, Haryana, the UT, Panjab University, PEC, the High Court and PGIMER, underlining how widely the original furniture had been distributed across the city’s public institutions before it began leaking into the international art market.In his follow-up, Jagga argued that the episode exposed the absence of any working preventive mechanism. “For years, Chandigarh’s heritage furniture has been disappearing from public institutions and finding its way into international auction houses and private collections across the world,” he wrote, adding, “the loot is still on.” He sought a formal inquiry into the provenance and chain of custody of the auctioned items, a standing alert mechanism for Indian missions abroad to object to future sales under the constitutional mandate, and a declaration of Chandigarh’s surviving Jeanneret-Le Corbusier furniture as “Art Treasure” under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972, to secure it against further export.The Brussels sale comes within weeks of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan seeking a custody report from the Chandigarh Administration after a pair of heritage chairs and a set of four low stools from the Punjab MLA Hostel in Sector 4 were auctioned in Chicago on June 4 for over Rs 59 lakh, with the Speaker warning that any intentional negligence damaging Chandigarh’s architectural and historical heritage would not be tolerated and that accountability would be fixed for those responsible. That sale, too, had gone through despite the Ministry of Home Affairs orders restricting the movement, sale and export of such items, with the auctioned chairs carrying the inventory marking “MLA (H) PB/1/B-11”.Jagga said he would continue monitoring international auction platforms and bring any future Chandigarh-linked listings to the notice of the authorities, but maintained that primary responsibility for safeguarding the city’s modernist legacy rested with the public authorities entrusted with its protection — a responsibility that, on this occasion, failed to translate into any preventive action despite a 48-hour window between intimation and sale.What soldLot No. Item Sale Price (€) Approx. Value (Rs)278 Library Table 52,484 52.48 lakh280 Sofa 18,404 18.40 lakh283 Bench 10,517 10.52 lakh347 Design Piece (Jeanneret & Le Corbusier) 26,292 26.29 lakh349 Set of Three High Stools 32,865 32.87 lakh352 Pair of Performance Hall Armchairs 7,230 7.23 lakh353 Student’s Desk & Library Chair 13,146 13.15 lakhTotal realisation: €160,938 (approx Rs 1.61 crore)Six lots from the original 13-piece set — a pair of office chairs (282), a pair of committee chairs (345), a table modelled for Panjab University (346), a chair with writing tablet (348), a chest of drawers (350) and a bench (351) — did not figure among the declared results.