Chandigarh: The Chandigarh administration has amended its govt accommodation allotment rules to allow employees transferred from a designated “hard area” to another “soft area”, except Chandigarh, to retain their govt accommodation for six months from the date they are relieved of their posting in the hard area, on payment of the normal licence fee.The amendment was notified in the Chandigarh Administration Gazette on Thursday under the Government Residences (Chandigarh Administration General Pool) Allotment (Amendment) Rules, 2026. It modifies the provisions governing the retention of govt residences under the 1996 allotment rules.The provision applies to employees transferred to Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, the Union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.The amended rule incorporates a decision taken by the House Allotment Committee (Urban) at its meeting on April 7, 2021, allowing employees subsequently transferred from a hard area to another soft area, other than Chandigarh, to retain their govt accommodation for six months after being relieved of their hard-area posting.The notification also clarifies the category of accommodation admissible to govt employees transferred to a hard area. Such employees will be permitted to retain only the category of govt accommodation in Chandigarh for which they are eligible under Annexure A of the allotment rules.It further addresses cases in which an employee is temporarily appointed to a higher post in Chandigarh and receives accommodation in a higher category because of that appointment. On being relieved of the higher post and returning to the original post, the employee will not be allowed to retain the higher-category accommodation. Instead, the employee will be allotted a residence corresponding to the entitlement attached to the original post.The amendment was issued by order in the name of the Chandigarh administrator under Rule 45 of the Fundamental Rules and other enabling provisions. It came into force on the date of its publication in the Gazette, Oct 22, 2026.
