Chandigarh, July 1 -- The UT administration's vigilance department will probe the alleged Rs.100-crore community centre booking scam, municipal commissioner Amit Kumar confirmed during the General House meeting on Monday. This comes nearly a month after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had alleged large-scale irregularities in the exemption-based booking system meant for economically weaker sections (EWS). Families below the poverty line (BPL) can book community centres for weddings free of cost, provided they are recommended by their area councillor. It is the councillor's responsibility to verify the financial condition of the applicant before recommending such a concession. AAP leaders had claimed that there was a nexus of middlemen, who with the help of fake councillor endorsements and municipal staff, were manipulating the booking process to illegally charge poor families between Rs.26,000 and Rs.55,000 per booking. AAP spokesperson and city councillor Yogesh Dhingra, while raising the issue, had alleged: "Middlemen take money from poor people but get the bookings done for free of cost. We demand a complete record of all community centre bookings for the last five years; details of each booking: name, date, purpose, and fees; all files where councillor recommendations or approvals are attached; forensic investigation report on forged signatures and stamps; file movement trail and internal notings of the booking branch; and identification of guilty officials." Stating that the local government department has formally written to the vigilance department, requesting a thorough probe, the MC chief said, "The entire booking record, including the role of councillors in verifying these cases, will be probed." After the AAP leaders' claims, mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla had asked the municipal commissioner to initiate a formal vigilance inquiry and transferred all staff working in the MC booking branch. In a preliminary report tabled by MC officials, it was revealed that a majority of free bookings between January 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025, came from wards represented by councillors Neha (AAP), Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor (AAP), Suman Devi (AAP), Ram Chander Yadav (AAP), Harpreet Kaur (BJP) and Kanwarjeet Singh (BJP), among others. Responding to the scrutiny, former mayor and AAP councillor Dhalor defended the councillors' actions. "Most of these bookings are from areas dominated by EWS populations such as colonies and villages. Recommendations were made only after due verification. We welcome the inquiry," he said. Meanwhile, the MC House has again deferred the much-delayed proposal for a new community centre booking policy, which has been pending since December 2024. The proposal seeks to revise booking charges and standardise exemptions. If approved, Category A centres-currently priced at Rs.44,000-will see a 36% hike to Rs.60,000. Category B centres will jump from Rs.22,000 to Rs.40,000, and Category C centres, which previously ranged from Rs.5,000 to Rs.22,000, will cost between Rs.15,000 and Rs.30,000. The original proposal also recommended eliminating free bookings for any purpose, including marriages and religious ceremonies, arguing that even subsidised users should pay at least 50% of the cost due to mounting maintenance expenses. However, this was rejected by the MC's committee. The revised proposal now retains exemptions for marriages of BPL families, medical and blood donation camps, UT/MC official events, and meetings held by RWAs, senior citizens' groups, and pensioners'associations....