The Centre has discharged Puja Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with immediate effect, a month after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) cancelled her selection in one of the most sought-after branches of government service.
Ms Khedkar was found guilty of cheating and wrongly availing Other Backward Classes (OBC) and disability quota benefits. After cancelling her selection, the UPSC had barred her from taking the entrance exam for life.
The UPSC found her guilty of faking her identity to take the exam multiple times.
Following the controversy, the UPSC had looked into the data of more than 15,000 candidates who cleared the IAS screening process between 2009 and 2023. "After this detailed exercise, barring the case of Ms Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, no other candidate has been found to have availed more number of attempts than permitted under the CSE Rules," the UPSC had said, referring to the Civil Services Examination Rules.
Ms Khedkar's troubles began in June when Pune Collector Suhas Diwase wrote to Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik, flagging the trainee IAS officer's demands for perks such as a car, staff and an office that she was not entitled to during her two-year probation. Thereafter, Ms Khedkar was transferred to Washim.
Amid the row, her selection for IAS came under the spotlight. It was found that she had availed relaxed criteria for OBC candidates and persons with disabilities. It then came to light that her father, a former Maharashtra government officer, had property to the tune of Rs 40 crore and she did not qualify for the OBC non-creamy layer tag.
It also emerged that she had not appeared for a mandatory health check-up at a government facility to confirm her exemption for disability.
A video of her sarpanch mother brandishing a gun to threaten people had also emerged. Manorama Khedkar was later arrested. Her father, Dilip Khedkar, is now being investigated in a case of owning assets disproportionate to his income.
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