The Chandigarh Circle was established in the year 1985, with its headquarters at Chandigarh by bifurcating from the erstwhile North-western circle with headquarter at Srinagar, J&K. The creation of Chandigarh Circle was necessitated for protection, conservation and maintenance of centrally protected monuments/sites in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and also Chandigarh UT. Later on, Shimla Circle was created in 2003 by separating monuments/sites of the Himachal Pradesh from Chandigarh Circle.
Superintending Archaeologists like S/Shri Dhanpat Rai, Hari Manjhi, B.R. Meena,Dr.P.K.Mishra, Shri C.Dorje, Ram Sharan , K.P.S. Bhadoria, S.N.Kesarwani, V.C. Sharma, Dr. K.C.Naurial, Dr. G.N. Srivastava, Dr. Vasant Swarnakar, Shri Zulfeqar Ali have headed the Chandigarh Circle. At present, there are 124 centrally monuments /sites under the jurisdiction of Chandigarh Circle spreading in the states of Haryana and Punjab. There are 91 centrally protected monuments/sites in Haryana and 33 in Punjab.
The Chandigarh Circle is conserving and managing the centrally monuments and sites through its 07 sub-circles viz. Surajkund Sub-Circle, Thanesar Sub-Circle, Hisar Sub-Circle and Narnaul Sub-Circle in Haryana and Amritsar Sub-Circle, Bhatinda Sub-Circle and Nakodar Sub-Circle in Punjab.
In addition, there are 02 Archaeological Site Museums under the jurisdiction of ASI, Chandigarh Circle situated at Ropar in Punjab and Thanesar, District Kurukshetra in Haryana.