Estate office rejig: 6 officers for 1 man’s job in Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: At a time when the Chandigarh administration is laying more emphasis on online services, the estate office (EO) of the administration seems to have hit the reverse gear by appointing too many officers for tasks which were handled by just one official till recently.
The estate office, which had only one assistant estate officer (AEO) till mid-2021 since the inception of the department in 60s, has got three AEOs now.In an unprecedented move, the Chandigarh administration had appointed the third AEO last week.
Sanyam Garg, a 2016-batch Haryana Civic Services (HCS) officer, holds the charge of AEO-I, while Sorabh Arora, a 2014 batch Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer, has been given the charge of AEO-II. Now, an exclusive new post of AEO-III has been created which has been given Rajiv Tewari, an assistance controller, finance and accounts of UT administration. Tewari will look after the most crucial and heavy areas like properties of industrial areas, properties of commercial areas, motor markets of the city and rehri markets of the city.
Besides the three AEOs, some powers related to the estate office have also been given to three sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) of the city. The powers have been given under the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Act, 1952. Under this Act, the SDMs concerned would perform their respective duties related to the estate office and take action accordingly against the violators.
Moreover, the SDMs will have judicial powers of AEO to take action against the violators.
UT’s claims
The Chandigarh administration has been claiming that they have started many services of the estate office online to minimise human interaction to facilitate people better and quickly. Moreover, the claims on boosting the process of digitalization have featured in the statements of the UT in the recent past.
Custodian of properties
Having around 13,000 most valuable properties in its kitty, the estate office of the Chandigarh administration is the custodian of properties worth crores of rupees. The authority earns crores of rupees from these properties in different ways, including lease money rent. The EO also keeps check on violations and issues notices.