Former IAS trainee officer Puja Khedkar, whose candidature was cancelled earlier this year, has challenged her disqualification, saying the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has no power to act against her. In July, following charges of misuse of power and forgery, the commission cancelled the provisional candidature of Khedkar and barred her permanently from appearing in all future exams.
In a response filed before the Delhi High Court on the UPSC’s move against her, Khedkar argued that once selected and appointed as a probationer, the UPSC ceases power to disqualify her candidature. “DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training) alone can take action under the All India services Act, 1954 and the Probationer Rules as per Rule 19 of the CSE 2022 Rules,” Khedkar mentioned.
The UPSC had cancelled her candidature after Khedkar was found guilty of misusing her powers and acting in contravention of the provisions of the CSE (Civil Services Exam) 2022 rules, including “faking her identity”. The commission also initiated a criminal case against Khedkar for cheating, fraudulence and forgery.
Khedkar challenged the UPSC’s decision in the Delhi HC. In her response before the court, Khedkar claimed that she did not manipulate or misrepresent her name to UPSC. “There has been no change in the applicant’s first name and surname, from 2012 to 2022, as consistently reflected in all DAFs,” her response read.
“UPSC has verified her identity through biometric data (cy and fingerprints) collected during the personality tests of 2019, 2021, and 2022 and all the documents were verified by the Commission during the personality test on 26.05. 2022,” she further said in her response.
Khedkar, till 2020-21, appeared for the examination under the OBC quota using the name ‘Puja Diliprao Khedkar’. In 2021-22, after exhausting all the attempts, she appeared for the exam under the OBC and PwBD (Persons with Benchmark Disabilities) quotas – this time using the name ‘Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar’. She managed to clear the examination with a rank of 821.
In July, the UPSC took a series of action, including registration of a police case, against Khedkar for fraudulently availing attempts in the civil services examination by faking her identity. Khedkar, a 2023 batch probationary 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.
“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 had 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.
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Source: BT
