Adarsh commission bars activist 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) J A 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.