'IAS Officer Puja Khedkar's Fitness Certificate For MBBS Admission Didn't Mention Disability,' Says College Director

Probationary IAS officer Pooja Khedkar, the daughter of a retired bureaucrat, has been in the news since last month for allegedly entitled and objectionable behaviour during her posting in Pune.

The director of the medical college where controversial IAS trainee Pooja Khedkar did her MBBS has said her fitness certificate at the time didn't indicate any disability.

"She took admission in 2007... She got admission through CET (common entrance test), where she gave some certificates of reservation... She had submitted the caste certificate, caste validity, and non-creamy layer certificate... She also submitted the certificate of medical fitness which does not mention any disability there," Director of Shrimati Kashibai Navale Medical College and General Hospital, Arvind Bhore, said, as reported by ANI.

Probationary IAS officer Pooja Khedkar, the daughter of a retired bureaucrat, has been in the news since last month for allegedly entitled and objectionable behaviour during her posting in Pune. She also faces allegations of making a fraudulent claim to concessions reserved for the disabled and members of the OBC non-creamy layer in her efforts to secure a civil services job.

Her father Dilip Khedkar, a former Maharashtra government employee, has denied any wrongdoing by his daughter.

According to India Today, Dilip Khedkar was a bureaucrat in Maharashtra when Puja got admission under the OBC non-creamy layer category. A report by the media portal said she got admission through the entrance exam held by the private college, since she got a higher score on that than the CET. NEET hadn't been introduced at the time.

In August 2022, Puja Khedkar applied for a PwD certificate in Pune; however, the doctors denied her request, stating that it was "not possible”, NDTV reported. "... you have been examined by the undersigned / Medical Board on 11/10/2022 and I / We regret to inform that... it is not possible to issue a disability certificate in your favour," she was told in a letter.

Pooja Khedkar's Father Declares Her Certificate Genuine

Dilip Khedkar, who ran for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and declared property worth Rs 40 crore in his poll affidavit, told Hindustan Times that his daughter's disability certificate was genuine.

“There are many kinds of disabilities. Puja suffers from vision impairment, which is more than 40%. Therefore she fulfils 40% criteria of the disability,” he said, adding that “medical experts on a panel had verified her disabilities before issuing the certificate”.

He added that his daughter has "a certain category of mental illness", which was "verified by medical professionals before the certificate was issued".