UPSC takes action against trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar for fake disability claims
New Delhi/IBNS: In a crackdown, the UPSC has issued a notice to cancel trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar's selection owing to her alleged lie about her visual and mental disabilities and faking her identity, media reports said.
Khedkar has "fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limit", the notice says.
A police case has been filed against Khedkar, whom the UPSC has asked for a response as to why her candidature should not be cancelled.
Thirty-four-year-old Puja Khedkar faces accusations of using fraudulent means to clear her civil services exam, including allegedly misrepresenting herself under the physical disabilities and non-creamy layer of OBC categories.
Khedkar said she would testify in front of the expert committee and will "accept the decision of the committee".
"Whatever my submission is, I will give it in front of the committee and the truth will come out," she said.
Apart from using a siren on her car, VIP number plates, and a sticker saying Government of Maharashtra, Khedkar had also been found using Pune Additional Collector Ajay More's office while he was away. She reportedly removed his nameplate and furniture and even demanded letterheads.
None of these perks are available for junior officers on probation for 24 months. According to reports, her father, a retired administrative officer, had pushed for her demands to be fulfilled.
Apart from the disability claims, inconsistencies were also found in Khedkar's claims to OBC non-creamy layer status.
Questions were raised about her appointment in the civil services after a Pune RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar alleged that she did not fall under the OBC non-creamy layer as her father had assets worth Rs. 40 crore.
"As per the rules, only those come under the OBC non-creamy layer category whose parents are under 8 lac per annum of income, but their income shows that it is 40 crore. Her parents contested the recent Lok Sabha polls and all the property details are there in the affidavit," he said.
The falsified statements and allowances gained allowed Khedkar to pass the uber-competitive Civil Services Exam despite scoring a relatively low all-India rank of 841.
Khedkar was transferred from Pune to Washim after her 'exploits' - including the use of a siren on her private vehicle, an Audi luxury sedan - came to light.
Pune Collector Suhas Divase had written to the Chief Secretary of the Maharashtra government to request Puja Khedkar's reassignment.
She was later transferred to Washim district.
“My job here as a probationer is to work and learn and that is what I am doing. I cannot make any comments on that (the probe). Whenever the decision of the committee comes, it will be public and open to scrutiny. But right now I don't have any right to tell you about the investigation going on,” she said speaking to reporters.
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