The Centre has formed a panel to investigate “candidature claims and other details” submitted by trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who has been accused of faking disability and OBC certificates to secure a position in the UPSC. The single-member committee has to submit its report in two weeks.
“The central government has constituted a single-member committee, chaired by a senior officer of the rank of Additional Secretary to government of India to verify the candidature claims and other details of Ms. Puja Manorma Dilip Khedkar, a candidate of Civil Services Examination-2022 and earlier CSEs. The committee will submit its report in 2 weeks,” said the Department of Personnel and Training in a statement.
The 2023-batch trainee IAS officer is also facing allegations of misuse of her position as a bureaucrat.
Khedkar, who is on probation for 24 months, had allegedly been using a red-blue beacon, VIP number plates and a “Government of Maharashtra” sticker on her personal Audi sedan.
The probationer reportedly exchanged multiple WhatsApp messages with the Pune Collector’s office before her posting and sought confirmation on her “seating arrangement and vehicle”.
Meanwhile, Khedkar has been transferred to Washim.
“Government rules do not allow me to speak anything on this matter. So sorry, I cannot speak,” said Khedkar said.
Khedkar claimed to be visually and mentally impaired to seek concession, but repeatedly refused mandatory medical tests to confirm her claims.
Pune RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar also alleged that Khedkar’s appointment did not fall under the OBC non-creamy layer as her father claimed assets worth Rs 40 crore.
“As per the rules, only those come under the OBC non-creme 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,” said Kumbhar.
“This raises the question of how Puja Khedkar could come under the OBC non-creamy layer category. A detailed investigation must be done on how she was appointed as an IAS officer in that category,” he said.
The Union Public Service Commission had challenged her selection, and a tribunal ruled against her in February last year.
