UPSC Cancels Candidature Of Controversial IAS Trainee Puja Khedkar Over Fake Certificate, Bars Her From All Future Exams

UPSC has cancelled Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar's provisional candidature for CSE-2022 and debarred her permanently from all future exams and selections.

Puja Khedkar has also been debarred permanently from all the future exams.

Source : ANI

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has cancelled the provisional candidature of Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar for fraudulently availing attempts beyond the permissible limit provided in the Examination Rules by faking her identity. Khedkar was earlier recommended for the Civil Services Examination 2022 (CSE-2022). Additionally, UPSC has permanently debarred her from participating in all future exams and selections.

"The UPSC has examined the available records carefully and found her guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of the CSE-2022 Rules," the Commission said in a notice released on Wednesday, July 31.

Show Cause Notice To Khedkar

On July 18, 2024, UPSC issued a Show Cause Notice to Khedkar. She was required to submit her response by July 25, 2024. However, Khedkar requested an extension until August 4, 2024, to gather the necessary documents for her response. UPSC had granted her an extension until 3:30 PM on July 30, 2024.

Despite the extension, Khedkar failed to submit her explanation within the prescribed time. Upon examining the available records, UPSC found her guilty of violating the provisions of the CSE-2022 Rules.

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In light of this case, UPSC has conducted a thorough review of the data of more than 15,000 finally recommended candidates of the Civil Services Examinations from 2009 to 2023 to verify the number of attempts availed by them. As per UPSC, this exercise revealed no other candidate exceeding the permitted number of attempts under the CSE Rules, except for Khedkar. Her actions went undetected primarily because she changed not only her name but also her parents' names.

Regarding complaints about the submission of false certificates, particularly in the OBC and PwBD categories, UPSC clarified that it only performs preliminary scrutiny of certificates to ensure they are issued by competent authorities, are in the correct format, and contain no overwriting. As per the UPSC notice, the commission does not have the mandate or resources to verify the genuineness of thousands of certificates submitted each year.