The Ministry of Home Affairs has delivered a decisive blow to the Haryana government’s long-cherished plan of constructing a separate Vidhan Sabha building in Chandigarh, directing the state to permanently drop the proposal barely fourteen months before the next Punjab Assembly elections. Sources in the MHA confirmed that senior Haryana officials were explicitly told not to pursue the matter further with either the ministry or the Chandigarh Administration.

The rejection comes after Haryana renewed its demand for an exclusive legislative complex in the Union Territory, prompting an internal review at the highest levels of the central government. Officials familiar with the development revealed that the MHA viewed the timing as politically sensitive and likely to reignite bitter territorial disputes between the two neighbouring states ahead of the 2027 Punjab polls.

At present, both Punjab and Haryana continue to share the iconic Vidhan Sabha building designed by Le Corbusier within the Capitol Complex, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site where any new permanent construction is strictly prohibited. Political parties across Punjab’s spectrum have repeatedly opposed Haryana’s claim, terming it an attempt to alter the delicate status quo established after the 1966 reorganisation of Punjab.

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The MHA communication highlighted multiple legal barriers, including potential violations of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, and the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Act, 1952. Even though the Chandigarh Administration had earlier identified and tentatively allotted a ten-acre plot near the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park for the project, the Centre has ruled that such a land transfer or construction would invite prolonged litigation and disturb inter-state harmony.

With the proposal now formally buried, Haryana legislators will continue to hold their Budget and regular sessions in the shared Capitol Complex building alongside their Punjab counterparts – a practice in place since the bifurcation of Punjab in 1966. Senior officials in Chandigarh Administration have been instructed to withdraw all related files, effectively closing the chapter on Haryana’s decades-old demand for a separate legislative edifice in the joint capital.

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