New Delhi, 19 July

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Friday took a series of action, including registration of a police case, against probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar for fraudulently availing attempts in the civil services examination by faking her identity.

The commission has also issued a show cause notice for cancellation of her candidature of the civil services examination-2022 and debarment from future examinations and selections.

Khedkar, a 2023 batch probationary Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, is accused of misusing power and privileges, by demanding perks and facilities she was not entitled for, during her training in Pune District Collectorate in Maharashtra recently.

She is accused of bullying everyone around and of placing a red-blue beacon (indicating high-ranking official) atop a private Audi (a luxury sedan) car used by her that also had 'Maharashtra government' written on it during her stint.

After the Pune district collector flagged the matter, Khedkar was transferred to Washim District Collectorate in the Vidarbha region. She was declared qualified in the civil services examination 2022. Based on the results declared last year by the UPSC, Khedkar was allocated the IAS and her home state Maharashtra as a cadre.

"The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has conducted a detailed and thorough investigation in the misdemeanour of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, a provisionally recommended candidate of the Civil Services Examination-2022," an official statement issued on Friday said.

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, the commission said.

The UPSC has, therefore, initiated a series of actions against her, including criminal prosecution by filing a First Information Report (FIR) with the police authorities and has issued "a show cause notice for cancellation of her candidature of the Civil Services Examination-2022/debarment from future examinations/ selections, in accordance with the Rules of the Civil Services Examination-2022", it said.

It is categorically stated that in fulfilling its constitutional obligations, 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 exam conducting body said in the statement.

The UPSC has ensured the sanctity and integrity of all its examination processes with the utmost fairness and strict observance of rules, it said. "The UPSC has deservedly earned the trust and credibility of a very high order from the public, especially the candidates. The commission is unequivocally committed to ensure that such high order of trust and credibility remains intact and uncompromised," the statement said.

After Khedkar's case related to misuse of disability and Other Backward Class or OBC (non-creamy layer) quotas to secure her candidature in the service came to fore, the Centre on July 11 formed a single-member probe committee.

The panel, headed by Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Additional Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training, has been asked to submit its report within two weeks.

Khedkar got 821st rank in the civil services examination 2022, under OBC category as a person with multiple disabilities, according to UPSC records. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 has a provision to reserve at least four per cent of total seats in government recruitment/department.

Candidates with benchmark disabilities (including multiple disabilities) besides those under OBC (non-creamy layer) get benefits like age-relaxation and earmarking of vacancies to be filled by them only in the civil services exam conducted by the UPSC.

The civil services examination is conducted annually by the UPSC in three stages -- preliminary, main and interview -- to select officers of IAS, Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others. OBC candidates, whose annual household income is less than Rs 8 lakh, are eligible to take benefits of non-creamy layer reservation in certain government jobs recruitment.