New Delhi:
The UPSC has issued a notice to cancel selection of trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who was being investigated for lying about visual and mental disabilities and faking her identity (including changing the names of her parents) to clear the Civil Services entrance exam.
A notification issued Friday afternoon said Ms Khedkar “fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limit”, and the UPSC had “initiated a series of actions against” the 23-year-old.
These include filing a police case for criminal prosecution and a show-cause notice asking why her candidature should not be cancelled. Further action will depend on Ms Khedkar’s reply.
Further action could include disbarring her from taking the entrance exam in the future.
“… the UPSC stringently adheres to its Constitutional mandate, and conducts all its processes, including all examinations, with the highest possible order of due diligence without any compromise. The commission is committed to ensuring… trust and credibility remains intact.”
Action against Ms Khedkar came hours after the Maharashtra government submitted a report to the centre, specifically the Department of Personnel and Training.
This report is a collection of documents collated from multiple sources to test Puja Khedkar’s many claims, including physical disability and her OBC, or other backward class, status.
It includes mention of Ms Khedkar’s alleged abuse of power during her first posting.
She had been sent to Pune an Assistant Collector, and later transferred as a Supernumerary Assistant Collector to Washim. This was after news broke that she had incorrectly secured perks and benefits, like a siren on her private car, not available to on-probation staff.
Once those allegations surfaced, they were followed by others that said she used fake disability certificates to qualify for the IAS despite a very modest all-India rank of 841 in the entrance test.
News also emerged of how she tried to secure those fake certificates, first approaching the Aundh Hospital in Pune, which turned her down, and then succeeding at another in Pipri, which diagnosed her with an “old ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear with left knee instability”.
Sources told NDTV Ms Khedkar could be dismissed if found guilty.
Earlier this week she was recalled from Washim to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Uttarakhand’s Mussoorie, where future government officers are trained.
