The Maharashtra government has put a hold on controversial trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar's probation. She has been asked to report at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie at the earliest, before July 23 atmost.
The trainee civil servant was relieved from District Training Program of State Government of Maharashtra on Tuesday.
The letter from Nitin Gadre, Additional Chief Secretary, addressing Puja Khedakr read: "...LBSNAA, Mussoorie has decided to keep your District Training Program on hold and immediately recall you for further necessary action..."
"Therefore, you are hereby relieved from District Training Programme of State Government of Maharashtra. The letter from the Academy is attached herewith. You are instructed to join the Academy at the earliest but not later than 23rd July, 2024 under any circumstances," it stated further.
This comes as the medical certificate submitted by her at the time of her admission to a private medical college in 2007 had no mentions of any disability, physical or mental.
Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule commented on the single-member committee formed to probe the allegations against her. He said: "In sensitive matters when there is any discussion about some officials, the government forms a committee before which all matters are discussed. I think that a committee has been formed in which the party members of the dispute will also give their statements and those who have been accused against them will also give their testimony. The decision taken by the committee is acceptable to all."
As per a report by news agency PTI, Puja Khedkar had also obtained a partial locomotor disability certificate from a hospital in Pune's Pimpri in August 2022.
Khedkar has been caught up in a storm of controversies pertaining to allegations of manipulation of disability and Other Backwar Class certificates to get into civil services. Besides this, she has also been accused of misusing her powers.
She was posted in Pune but had been transferred to Washim after complaints from Pune district collector.
On Sunday, her private luxury car was confiscated by the Pune police for allegedly installing a read beacon light, without getting the required authorisation.
Meanwhile, Pune police has been unable to trace Khedkar's parents, who have been booked under Arms Act, after a video showing her mother Manorama, brandishing a gun went viral. She was seen threatening a farmer with the pistol in Pune over a land dispute.