Earns Rs 8,600 per month,owns Rs 5-cr flat

The name of the driver,Sudhakar Laxman Madke,50,appears in the 2003 membership list of Adarsh alongside that of his employers: Abhay H Sancheti,Chairman of SMS Infrastructure Ltd; Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Sancheti; and Joint Managing Director Anand S Sancheti. The 43-year-old firm is one of the largest infrastructure firms in central India and is involved in the construction of highways,railways,dams and in coal mining.

But the names of the three Sanchetis were not approved for membership by City Collector I A Kundan — who herself has an apartment in Adarsh — on the grounds that their monthly salaries were between Rs 1 lakh and 4.5 lakh,which is well above the income limit of Rs 12,500 specified under rules.

State government rules stipulate that civilians seeking membership of a housing society coming up on government-allotted land should not have a monthly salary of more than Rs 12,500. This aims to ensure that preferential allotment of flats should benefit people who cannot afford expensive houses in the financial capital.

Documents with The Indian Express show that Madke remained on the list for the sea-facing apartments costing upwards of Rs 60 lakh as his monthly salary was Rs 8,600,including a basic salary of Rs 2,550. The market value of his 650 sq ft apartment today is around Rs 5 crore.

Four years later,in 2007,Paramveer Sancheti,the then 19-year-old son of Abhay Sancheti,tried to get on the Adarsh membership list. However,even his application was rejected in July 2008 by Kundan.

This time,she cited rules that mandate that an applicant’s income eligibility should be decided based on the entire family’s income over a 36-month period and Paramveer’s family income over this duration exceeded the prescribed limit.

But exactly a year later,in July 2009,another letter signed by Kundan says that Paramveer’s name had been approved for inclusion as a member of Adarsh. Kundan refused to respond to any questions related to Adarsh when contacted today by The Indian Express.

While Madke could not be reached for his comments,Abhay Sancheti denied his company’s driver was being used as a proxy owner for an apartment in Adarsh. “We decided to loan money to Madke. Since property values in Mumbai are very high,he can rent the house and easily repay his loan. As for my son,I can shell out the cost of his flat,” Sancheti told The Indian Express.