The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced on Wednesday the cancellation of the provisional candidature of the contentious trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar, permanently prohibiting her from participating in any future examinations organized by the commission, according to officials. Puja Khedkar faces allegations of improperly utilizing the disability and Other Backward Class (non-creamy layer) quotas to obtain her position in the civil services examination.
UPSC’s decision to cancel Puja Khedkar’s provisional candidature for the CSE-2022 and permanently debar her from all future Examinations/Selections was made after a thorough review of her eligibility and application, during which she was found to have violated the rules of the Civil Services Examination. This was stated in an official announcement by UPSC.
The UPSC committee emphasized in its announcement that Puja Khedkar was issued a Show Cause Notice (SCN) on July 18 for exceeding the permissible limit of attempts in the examination rules by “faking her identity”. Despite this, the deadline was postponed to July 30 with a warning from the commission that it was the “last chance” and there would be “no more time extensions” granted.
The panel stated that despite the extended time given to her, she failed to meet the deadline for submitting her explanation. Puja Khedkar has been accused by the Delhi Police Crime Branch of exploiting the disability and Other Backward Class (non-creamy layer) reservations to secure a position in the civil services examination.
A special team, led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) from the Crime Branch, was assigned the task of gathering documents from various government departments. She is facing charges under sections 420 (cheating), 464 (creating a document in a fictitious name), 465 (forgery), and 471 (presenting a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as under sections 89 and 91 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act and 66D of the Information Technology Act.
The IAS officer from the 2023 batch, who was previously working as a probationary assistant collector at the Pune district collectorate, was relocated to Washim from Pune earlier this month following allegations that she misrepresented herself as a person with physical disabilities. While in Pune, Puja Khedkar allegedly abused her authority by seeking benefits and privileges to which she was not entitled. Her mother, Manorama Khedkar, is also currently in custody in connection with a criminal case related to a land dispute.