Bought for peanuts,sold for a fortune

These include heritage items but the UT Administration had sold off many considering them junk. The manhole covers,for instance,have the design of the Chandigarh8217;s Master Plan,while furniture used in courts and educational institutes had been designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret.

In Le Corbusier-Pierre Jeanneret The Indian Adventure Design-Art-Architecture,a book co-authored with Gerald Moreau,Touchaleaume chronicles the route the items have taken.

He first came to Chandigarh in February 1999,roped in a tourist agencys guide,and went on to visit the city 30 times in 11 years. During the early visits,a number of heritage items were being auctioned in the city,the largest auctions taking place at Panjab University in 1999 and at the High Court in 2001.

These were sold at very low prices,Touchaleaume notes. He approached the UT Administration in 1999 for help in locating the furniture. The office of the then UT Adviser sent out a letter: I did feel that we should respond positively since our own department has no use of the furniture.

Touchaleaume had proposed to pay 1,510 and 1,257,depending on whether or not the furniture was in use. A committee,comprising mainly faculty of Chandigarh College of Architecture,was set up to classify its furniture. It listed 18 chairs,48 stools,32 drafting tables,3 office tables,2 architect pedestals and 2 daftri tables of no use to the college,and fit for auction with reserve prices such as Rs 100 chair,Rs 500 all stools,Rs 225 drafting table,Rs 250 each office table.

Touchaleaume offered 845 for all items but these were put up for auction. Records show that few of the scrap dealers invited even bothered to bid. Touchaleaume bought the lot at 565. In subsequent auctions at other places,items were sold at similarly low rates.

Touchaleaume collected for seven years. The sales started in 2006. At Christies and Sothebys,a teak table designed by Jeanneret sold for 144,000,a manhole cover for 21,600,a painted cedar-and-teak drawing table for 156,000. At Wright Auction House in Chicago,a sofa from Panjab University went for 88,900,a set of four chairs for 68,500,a set of armchairs for 74,500.

Some items had been bought from architect Jaswinder Singh,whose father Giani Rattan Singh was a modular with Le Corbusier. He too had bought many items at auctions held by the UT Administration,such as 36 drawing boards for Rs 2,750 and a table for Rs 33.

Architect Surinder Bahga,who met Touchaleaume during his trips,says,People at that time did not value the items so much. It is after the auctions that awareness grew. But there is still no policy for what is to be done with the items remaining in the city.

The first Indian chief architect of the city,M N Sharma,says the Administration did not act early enough. Even Touchaleaume has blamed the bureaucracy for the auctions.

The Administration had started an inquiry that concluded little can be done about the items that are gone. It has been decided that a list of the items still present will be made.

UT Home Secretary Ram Niwas said,It is correct that some items being auctioned abroad had been auctioned by the Administration. However,there are some things that were sold by individuals. We looked into the option of legal action but the auction houses produce receipts so the auctions could not be stalled. In order to preserve what is left,a three-member committee has been constituted,he said.