Govt Dismisses Puja Khedkar From IAS After UPSC Cancelled Selection Over Quota Misuse: Report

Weeks after the UPSC cancelled her selection, the central government has now discharged Puja Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with immediate effect.

The central government has discharged former trainee officer Puja Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with immediate effect. This comes over a month after the Union Public Service Commission cancelled her selection after being accused of misusing her Other Backward Classes and disability quota benefits.

In an official order dated Septembr 6, the government discharged Khedkar under Rule 12 of IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954, news agency IANS reported. The rules allow the government to discharge a probationer from service in case he or she fails to pass the re-examination or if the Centre is satisfied that a probationer was found to be ineligible for recruitment to the Service or is unsuitable to become a member of the service, among others.

Khedkar, who was from the 2023 batch, has denied all allegations of cheating and wrongly availing OBC and disability quota benefits to get recruited in the government service. She was provisionally alloted the IAS (Maharashtra cadre) and also allegedly misused her power and privileges during her posting in Pune for training.

Khedkar had appeared for the UPSC exam under the OBC quota using the name 'Puja Diliprao Khedkar'. However, when she exhausted her attempts she re-appeared for the civil services exam, but this time as 'Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar'. She cleared the exam with a rank of 821.

A single-member committee was constituted on July 11 to verify her candidacy claims, following which a report was submitted on July 24. "It is seen that Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, IAS Probationer (MH:2023) had applied and appeared for the CSE betwen 2012 to 2023. As per the information submitted by Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, IAS Probationer (MH:2023) herself in her Civil Services Examination (CSE) application forms between CSE-2012 to CSE- 2023, it is seen that she had availed more attempts at the Civil Services Examination than the maximum permissible number of nine (9) attempts in her claimed category (OBC and PwBD), which she had exhausted by attempting the Civil Services Examinations between 2012 and 2020 i.e., prior to the CSE-2022 itself," the order said.

It further stated thay the summary enquiry found Khedkar to be ineligible to be a candidate at the CSE 2022, which was the year she was selected and appointed to the IAS. Thus, she was ineligible to be recruited to the IAS. "The Central Government by an order dated 06.09.2024 discharges Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, IAS Probationer (MH:2023), from the Indian Administrative Service under Rule 12 of IAS(Probation) Rules, 1954, with immediate effect," the order noted.

In July, a criminal case was registered against her by Delhi Police for "misrepresenting and falsifying facts" following a "thorough investigation" by the UPSC into allegations of misconduct. The commission had found that Khedkar had manipulated her identity to appear for the exam several times and had exceeded the permissible attempts.

Therefore, on July 31, the UPSC cancelled her candidature secured via the civil services examination 2022 and debarred her from future exams.

Meanwhile, Khedkar on Thursday said before the Delhi High Court that she was willing to get medically examined at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), after the Delhi police claimed that one of her disability certificates may be "fabricated" and "forged".