Mumbai: Observing that activist Santosh
Daundkar had made allegations against three former Maharashtra
chief ministers without any evidence, the judicial panel
probing the Adarsh Housing Society scam has prohibited him
from examining witnesses.
Adarsh's lawyer Saket Mone had filed a plea which sought
to bar Daundkar from cross-examining any witnesses in the
Adarsh scam as the activist was not a practising lawyer or
someone who could be personally affected by the case.
The commission, headed by Justice (retd) JA Patil held
that Daundkar, in his affidavits and during his deposition,
had made allegations against several bureaucrats and three
former Chief Ministers. But "the allegations have been made on
the basis of suspicion and without any documentary evidence".
Nor did he have any personal stake in the case.
"He (Daundkar) has admitted that he got affidavits
drafted by advocate. Daundkar is unable to explain meanings of
certain words in the affidavit. Thus we feel that he would not
be in a position to assist the Commission and giving him the
opportunity to cross-examine would only result in waste of
valuable time," the Commission said.
Daundkar's affidavit accuses former Chief Ministers
Sushil Kumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan of
flouting rules to favour Adarsh.
Adarsh, a 31-storey building in the upscale south Mumbai,
was originally meant for the kin of martyrs of Kargil war, but
it is alleged that others, including some high-ranking
bureaucrats, got flats in it.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, November 06, 2011, 10:39