UPSC’s Final Judgment On The Puja Khedkar’s Case

The UPSC has decided to cancel the candidature of probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar in its final decision debarring her from all the future examinations. Recently, Puja was in the headlines due to accusations of falsely acquiring the position, claiming to be from the OBC and PwBD categories. 

UPSC on Wednesday rendered its final judgment over controversial IAS officer Puja Khedkar’s case. Which seemingly went against her favor. As per UPSC’s judgment, Puja will not be able to appear in any further examinations conducted by UPSC, also debarring her from her current position as the probationary IAS officer. 

Who is Puja Khedkar?

Puja is a doctor who has claimed to have completed her MBBS from Pune and also worked as an endocrinologist in Delhi. Hailing from a strong bureaucratic family where her father is also a former IAS officer and her mother works as the head of Bhalgaon village’s tehsil. She fraudulently appeared several times in the UPSC civil servants examination and later in 2021 also succeeded in securing the IRS rank under two reservation categories, OBC and PwBD (Persons with benchmark disability category). Puja told UPSC of her visionary impairment and mental illness, which were never backed up by any official document. 

What was the issue?

On 22 April 2022, after clearing the UPSC exam, AIIMS New Delhi issued 6 notices for Puja in order to appear for the disability cross examination, where she never went. AIIMS even wrote to the DOPT department regarding it. Later, Puja also took this entire case to the Central Administrative Tribunal and even to the Bombay High Court. After which, strangely, the issue was closed when later Puja presented a fabricated report from a private clinic. 

 After some time, Puja started her training in the prohibition period under Pune’s district collectorate as an assistant collector. Initially, Puja was allotted a posting in the Bhandara district, but using her bureaucratic contacts, she made it to Pune. As per UPSC, all those candidates who are still on the 2-year prohibition period are never allotted a home posting, which strangely happened in Puja’s case. It was even reported by an RTI activist, Vijay Kumar.

What was the Issue?

Puja was supposed to join Pune’s training on June 3, 2024, but before that, the residing district collector of Pune submitted a 25-page report regarding her to the Additional Chief Secretary of Maharashtra. Mentioning her demands for a private Audi A4 car, VIP number plate, separate cabin, and accommodation villa, even before her arrival. He also stated how Puja acquired the additional collector’s chamber, demanding separate furniture and letterhead. She also replaced the nameplate while he was away for 4 days. 

The same day, the tehsildar received a threatening call from Puja’s father. Surprisingly, soon after the news went viral, a mock interview of Puja started circulating where she was seen mentioning her parents’ separation, forcing her to reside with her mother while claiming her zero income, which was later calculated as 48 lakhs per annum. 

 This case came under the limelight after the District Collector’s letter, soon after which the Maharashtra government issued her transfer to the Washim district, where she arrived but never appeared for joining. On being questioned by the media, I quoted, “I am not authorized to say anything to the media; I’ll make submissions as per the committee’s demands.”. 

 UPSC’s Judgment

According to UPSC, Puja requested to exceed the document submission date till 4 August. She was granted the final opportunity to submit her response till 30th July 3:30 pm, but she failed to submit any response within the timeframe. 

 Looking at the matter now, UPSC has given its final statement debarring Puja from her posting. It also mentioned Puja’s was the only case in the last 15 years where UPSC couldn’t figure out if the candidate had exceeded the number of allotted attempts. After fraudulently applying with a different name and fake documents. 

  Over the fake OBC and PwBD certificate, UPSC mentioned, ‘We usually consider the certificate as veritable if it is issued by any competent authority. We have never requested nor compared the authenticity of certificates submitted by candidates.’ A police case has also been registered against Puja Khedkar by UPSC for faking her identity and fraudulently appearing multiple times in the examinations.