Barely a fortnight after the auction of Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s MLA Hostel furniture in Chicago triggered a political storm, another set of Chandigarh-origin heritage furniture designed by Pierre Jeanneret went under the hammer in Brussels on Thursday, this time through auction house PIASA, with a combined estimate of €196,000 to €290,000 (roughly Rs 2.13 crore to Rs 3.16 crore) spread across 13 lots.Heritage activist Ajay Jagga, a member of the Heritage Protection Cell, Chandigarh, flagged the sale in a representation sent this morning to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, seeking urgent diplomatic intervention before the auction concluded.“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,” Jagga wrote, adding that despite this, “there appears to be no visible effort to challenge these sales or secure the return of such heritage property.”In his letter, Jagga noted that unlike in some earlier instances, the Brussels lots carried no visible inventory numbers, even though their institutional provenance was openly declared in the auction catalogue itself.He sought sensitisation of Indian missions abroad, a formal advisory to monitor international auction houses, a coordinated mechanism between the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Culture, and the Archaeological Survey of India, and a domestic probe into how marked government assets keep leaving the country.“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, invoking Article 49 of the Constitution, which casts an obligation on the State to protect objects of national importance from export or disposal, along with Articles 51A(f) and (i) on the duty of citizens to preserve heritage and safeguard public property.The development comes close on the heels 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.The Speaker said any intentional negligence damaging Chandigarh’s unique architectural and historical heritage would not be tolerated under any circumstances, and that strict action would be taken with accountability fixed for those responsible.A high-level meeting was held with UT authorities to ascertain custodianship, since such heritage items remain in the joint custody of the Punjab, Haryana, and UT Chandigarh governments, with inventory records maintained by the UT Administration. That sale, too, reached the US despite Ministry of Home Affairs orders on checking the movement, sale, and export of such items, with the auctioned chairs carrying the inventory marking “MLA (H) PB/1/B-11”.Jagga had also pointed to a precedent: in October 2021, two tables from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha were auctioned in the US for around Rs 13.36 lakh, an issue he had raised with the Speaker of the time as well.Days earlier, he had flagged a separate round of Wright Auction House sales in the US, noting that the US house had claimed to have sold 400 pieces worth $5.5 million over the preceding decade, and arguing that despite repeated instances of such sales, no structured institutional or diplomatic response mechanism had been developed.The recurrence of such sales, now spanning the US and Belgium within weeks of each other, has renewed questions over the absence of a real-time tracking and repatriation framework for Chandigarh’s modernist heritage, even as the Heritage Protection Cell–set up specifically to inventory and prevent illicit trafficking of such furniture –remains seized of the MLA Hostel matter referred to it by the Speaker’s office.What went under the hammerLot No. Item Provenance Estimate (€)278 Library Table –40,000– 60,000280 Sofa Administrative buildings, Chandigarh 15,000- 20,000282 Pair of Office Chairs Administrative buildings, Chandigarh 15,000–20,000283 Bench Administrative buildings, Chandigarh 8,000–12,000345 Pair of Committee Chairs Administrative buildings, Chandigarh 15,000–20,000346 Table Model created for Panjab University 15,000 –20,000347 Design Piece (Jeanneret & Le Corbusier) Punjab and Haryana High Court 18,000–25,000348 Chair with Writing Tablet Administrative buildings, Chandigarh 3,000– 4,000349 Set of Three High Stools Administrative buildings, Chandigarh 15,000– 20,000350 Chest of Drawers Administrative buildings, Chandigarh 6,000 –9,000351 Bench Punjab and Haryana High Court 12,000–18,000352 Pair of Performance Hall Armchairs Administrative buildings, Chandigarh 6,000–9,000353 Student’s Desk & Library Chair Various administrative buildings, Chandigarh 8,000–12,000Combined estimate for the 13-lot Chandigarh collection: €196,000–€290,000