The Union Public Service Commission on Friday booked trainee Indian Administrative Service officer Puja Khedkar for alleged forgery and issued a show cause notice for cancelling her candidature in the 2022 Civil Services Examination.
The commission is a constitutional body that conducts the recruitment of officers to the All India Services and the Central Civil Services through examinations.
The controversy relating to Khedkar, a Maharashtra cadre officer, erupted after Pune-based Right to Information activist Vijay Kumbhar alleged that she had become a civil services officer by availing benefits under the Other Backward Classes quota. In this category, those with parents having an annual income of more than Rs 8 lakh are classified in the “creamy layer”.
In a press statement on Friday, the Union Public Service Commission said that it had conducted an investigation into the “misdemeanour” committed by Khedkar.
“From this investigation it has been revealed that she fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limit under the Examination Rules by faking her identity by way of changing her name, her father’s and mother’s name, her photograph/signature, her email ID, mobile number and address,” it said.
The commission also debarred her from examinations and selections conducted by it in the future.
The Union Public Service Commission said that it has ensured the “sanctity and integrity” of all its examinations with the “utmost fairness and strict observance” of the rules. “…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 statement added.
Khedkar’s district training was put on hold on Tuesday and she was ordered to return to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Uttarakhand’s Mussoorie.
The district training programme is the period during which the trainee officers are exposed to the day-to-day workings of the administration at the state and the district levels in their allotted cadres.
Khedkar has been at the centre of a controversy since earlier this month amid allegations that she sought the appointment of staffers, including a constable, as well as a separate house and car. These are facilities that she was not entitled to as a trainee officer.
She was also accused of using a red and blue beacon and a “Government of Maharashtra” sticker on her private car.
The probationary officer appeared for the Union Public Service Commission exam in 2022, reportedly claiming to be visually impaired and mentally ill. However, she allegedly did not undergo medical tests to validate her claims.
On July 11, the Union government formed a panel to look into Khedkar’s candidature claims, including those about being visually and mentally impaired and about belonging to the non-creamy layer of the Other Backward Classes. The panel has been asked to submit a report in two weeks.
On Monday, Khedkar said that it was wrong to hold her “guilty by media trial”, in response to the allegations.
Amid the controversy, Manorama Khedkar, the mother of Puja Khedkar, was detained by the Pune Police on Thursday for allegedly threatening farmers with a gun last year.
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