Chandigarh, Dec. 8 -- Amid growing pressure from residents, property owners, and industry stakeholders, the UT administration is set to take up the long-pending issue of share-wise property sales - which has been banned for nearly three years - with senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday. Due to the ban, property transactions worth over Rs.600 crore are currently stalled. It was on January 10, 2023, when the Supreme Court (SC) 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, the 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 Chandigarh Master Plan-2031 and the 2017 Apartment Rules, in accordance with the committee's recommendations. Any amendments will have to be placed before the Centre for approval, the top court had said. In line with the court's observations, the UT administration imposed a ban on share-wise property transfers outside the family and stopped clearing building plans for properties co-owned by unrelated individuals. Over the past two years, Member of Parliament (MP) Manish Tewari has repeatedly raised the matter in Parliament, asserting that Chandigarh is not a heritage city, and only a limited number of buildings hold heritage status. Tewari explained that the SC had issued interim directions, preventing the sanctioning of building plans for converting single houses into three independently owned floors, as well as registration of MOUs enabling such arrangements. These restrictions, he noted, were valid only until the Heritage Committee took a final view on redensification. Once the committee decided against redensification, the interim directions ceased to apply. "The SC never banned share-wise sale of property," Tewari stressed, adding that the UT administration had misinterpreted the order and consequently imposed a blanket ban on February 9, 2023. He said this misinterpretation had caused severe financial losses, disrupted property transactions, and led to unnecessary hardship for residents. Vikram Chopra, president of the Property Consultants Association, Chandigarh, also criticised the administration's stand. "Why has the UT administration failed to interpret the apex court's order even after three years?" he asked. He said the city had already suffered a "massive loss" in stamp duty and tax revenue, while the public continued to face harassment and a surge in avoidable litigation. "If the UT is unable to obtain clarity from its legal officers, it should seek clarification directly from the SC," Chopra added. UT is sending home secretary Mandip Brar and deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav for the meeting with MHA officials on Monday. The officers are also expected to raise other issues, including ownership rights in rehabilitation colonies, extension of lal dora limits in 22 villages, regularisation of need-based changes in Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) units, and concerns of group housing societies struggling with procedural and ownership complexities....