The Chandigarh Housing Board demolished flats, faced a court order halting it, and took the only next logical step: form an eight-member committee to recommend whether the demolitions it was already doing should continue.
For months, Chandigarh Housing Board officials went building to building, measuring and issuing demolition orders to flat owners who had made modifications to their government-allotted homes — a kitchen wall here, a bathroom extension there. Residents objected, AAP launched a campaign against the drive, and the Punjab and Haryana High Court stepped in, shielding Sector 39-B residents from demolition until July 27. Faced with this development, the Chandigarh Administration took the only obvious next step: on May 15, it constituted an eight-member committee to review and recommend need-based changes in CHB dwelling units. The committee has two weeks to recommend whether the demolitions that are already underway were, on reflection, appropriate. Residents whose modifications have already been reduced to rubble are presumably expected to wait for the report.