UPSC cancels provisional candidature of trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar

"The UPSC carefully considered the request of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar and in order to meet the ends of justice, she was granted time till 3:30 pm of 30th July, 2024 so as to enable her to submit the response to the SCN. It was also categorically made clear to Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar that it was last and final opportunity to her and no further extension in time would be allowed. It was also conveyed to her in unequivocal terms that if no response was received by the aforesaid date/time, the UPSC would take further action without entertaining any further reference from her. Despite extension in time allowed to her, she failed to submit her explanation within the prescribed time," the UPSC said in a statement.

Khedkar is accused of misusing the disability and Other Backward Class (non-creamy layer) quotas to secure a seat in the prestigious examination.

"The UPSC has examined the available records carefully and found her guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of the CSE-2022 Rules. Her provisional candidature for the CSE-2022 has been cancelled and she has also been debarred permanently from all the future Examinations/Selections of the UPSC," UPSC said.

 In the backdrop of the case of Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, the UPSC said it has thoroughly examined the available data of more than 15,000 finally recommended candidates of the CSEs from the year 2009 to 2023 i.e. for 15 years with respect to the number of attempts availed by them.

After this detailed exercise, barring the case of Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, no other candidate has been found to have availed more number of attempts than permitted under the CSE Rules.

In the lone case of Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the UPSC could not detect her number of attempts primarily due to the fact that she changed not only her name but also her parents’ name.

The UPSC is in the process of further strengthening the SOP to ensure that such a case does not recur in the future.

So far as the complaints regarding the submission of false certificates (specifically OBC & PwBD categories) are concerned, the UPSC clarified that it does only a preliminary scrutiny of the certificates viz. whether the certificate has been issued by the competent authority, the year to which the certificate pertains, issuing date of the certificate, whether there is any overwriting on the certificate, format of the certificate etc.

"Generally, the certificate is taken as genuine, if it has been issued by the competent authority. The UPSC neither has the mandate nor the wherewithal to check the veracity of thousands of certificates submitted by the candidates every year. However, it is understood that scrutiny and verification of genuineness of certificates is carried out by the authorities mandate with the task," the statement said.

Questions were raised about her appointment in the civil services after a Pune RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar alleged that she did not fall under the OBC non-creamy layer as her father had assets worth Rs. 40 crore.

"As per the rules, only those come under the OBC non-creamy layer category whose parents are under 8 lac per annum of income, but their income shows that it is 40 crore. Her parents contested the recent Lok Sabha polls and all the property details are there in the affidavit," he said.

The falsified statements and allowances gained allowed Khedkar to pass the uber-competitive Civil Services Exam despite scoring a relatively low all-India rank of 841.

Khedkar was transferred from Pune to Washim after her 'exploits' - including the use of a siren on her private vehicle, an Audi luxury sedan - came to light.

Pune Collector Suhas Divase had written to the Chief Secretary of the Maharashtra government to request Puja Khedkar's reassignment.

She was later transferred to Washim district.