'Membership of MP's nephew approved on minister's order'

Former Mumbai Collector IZ Kundan told the Adarsh commission that the name of Paramveer Sancheti, the nephew of BJP MP Ajay Sancheti, had been included as a society member on the orders of former minister of state for revenue Rana Jagjit Sinh Patil.

"Sancheti's name was approved after the Collector's Office received the order from Patil in June 2009," Kundan told the commission. Kundan had earlier told the commission she had refused to approve Sancheti's name for membership at first, as his application did not fulfil the required conditions. Sancheti had then challenged the refusal before the revenue minister. The society had by then replaced Sancheti's name with Mukundrao Mankar's. However, when Patil's order came the society sent a fresh submission for Sancheti's membership, which was granted, Kundan said.

The Sacheti family is under the scanner in the Adarsh scam as their company had given unsecured loans to 10 Adarsh members. There are allegations that the flat owners are fronts for the Sancheti family.

Kundan was also questioned on why she did not recuse herself from the Adarsh file when her name was recommended as a society member. "I did not recuse myself as these are administrative processes and giving clearance to eligibility of a member or rejecting does not accrue benefits to the society," Kundan said.