K M Dayashankar
NEW DELHI, JULY 31, 2024: The Union Public Service Commission has cancelled the selection of Puja Khedkar as a trainee IAS from Maharastra state cadre and she has been debarred from sitting for the UPSC exam for life as the Commission found her guilty of taking her identity to take the exam multiple times.
The UPSC said Ms Khedkar had been served a notice for “fraudulently availing attempts, beyond the permissible limit provided for in the examination rules, by faking her identity”.
The UPSC said it had given Puja Khedkar time till 3.30 pm on Tuesday to respond to its notices, in which it was “categorically made clear” that she would have no further opportunity to make her case, and that action would be taken even if no explanation were offered from her side. Initially, the UPSC had given only July 25 to respond to the notice. Following a plea from Ms Puja, who sought time till August 4, the UPSC fixed the deadline as July 30.
“Despite extension in time allowed to her, she failed to submit her explanation within the prescribed time… the UPSC examined available records carefully and found her guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of (rules)… her provisional candidature has been cancelled.”
The UPSC said it had also reviewed data from 15,000 other candidates between 2009 and 2023 “to number of attempts availed by them” and found no other violation of the rules.
Following her ‘selection’, she had been posted to Pune as an Assistant Collector. She was then transferred to Washim district before being recalled to the training institute in Uttarakhand.
Early this month the UPSC had issued a ‘show cause’ notice to Ms Khedkar, whose violations were exposed after it emerged she had secured perks beyond her pay grade, such as a siren for her private vehicle (an Audi luxury sedan) and a ‘Government of Maharashtra’ sticker for the car.
Once those allegations surfaced, they were followed by others that said she used a fake disability certificate – from a district hospital in Pipri that diagnosed her with an “old ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear with left knee instability” – to qualify for the IAS.
That was despite a very modest all-India rank of 841 in the entrance test. Then her claim to an OBC ‘non-creamy layer’ tag was found to be invalid after it emerged her father, Dilip Khedkar, a former Maharashtra government officer, had property worth ₹ 40 crore.
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