Sunday, February 9, 2025

UPSC cancels controversial IAS officer Puja Khedkar’s provisional candidature – N.F Times

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New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has cancelled the provisional candidature of controversial trainee IAS officer, Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, over irregularities in her civil services exam 2022 application. The body has also debarred her from appearing for any exam conducted by the UPSC.

“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,” said the body.

Puja Khedkar, a probationary IAS officer who secured an all-India rank of 821 in the UPSC exams, is accused of misusing her authority. She is also accused of faking her identity to fraudulently avail herself of attempts beyond the permissible limit in the civil services examination.

“In the backdrop of the case of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, the UPSC 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 Ms. 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 Ms. 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,” UPSC added.

The Delhi police had registered an FIR against her over a complaint filed by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

“From the 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 names, her photograph/signature, her email ID, mobile number and address,” the UPSC had said in a press release.

After reports that she used fake documents to prove her physical disability, the UPSC issued her a show-cause notice.

The UPSC’s action comes two weeks after Puja Khedkar was relieved from the District Training Programme of the government of Maharashtra.

She was recalled to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie and her training had been put on hold.

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