The Union Public Service Commission on Friday said it has lodged a criminal case against probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar for faking her identity to fraudulently avail attempts in the civil services examination beyond eligibility, and taken steps to debar her from future selections.
Following a complaint from the Commission, the Delhi police said its Crime Branch has taken up the investigation.
"UPSC has filed a complaint with Delhi Police against Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar for misrepresenting and falsifying facts to obtain extra attempts in the UPSC examinations, beyond the prescribed limit. Consequently, a case has been registered under the relevant sections of the law, and investigation has been taken up in Crime Branch," the Delhi police said in a statement.
Khedkar, a 2023-batch probationary Indian Administrative Service officer, is accused of misusing power and privileges, by demanding perks and facilities she was not entitled for, during her training in Pune District Collectorate in Maharashtra recently.
She was accused of bullying everyone around and of placing a red-blue beacon (indicating high-ranking official) atop a private Audi (a luxury sedan) car used by her that also had 'Maharashtra Government' written on it during her stint.
After the Pune district collector flagged the matter, Khedkar was transferred to Washim District Collectorate in the Vidarbha region.
She was declared qualified in the civil services examination 2022. Based on the results declared last year by the UPSC, Khedkar was allocated the IAS and her home state Maharashtra as a cadre.
"The Union Public Service Commission has conducted a detailed and thorough investigation in the misdemeanour of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, a provisionally recommended candidate of the Civil Services Examination-2022," an official statement issued on Friday said.
From this investigation, it has been revealed that she fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limit under the examination rules by faking her identity by way of changing her name, her father's and mother's name, her photograph/ signature, her email ID, mobile number and address, the Commission said.
The UPSC has, therefore, initiated a series of actions against her, including criminal prosecution by filing a First Information Report with the police authorities and has issued "a show cause notice for cancellation of her candidature of the Civil Services Examination-2022/debarment from future examinations/ selections, in accordance with the Rules of the Civil Services Examination-2022", it said.
Candidates with a minimum of 21 years of age are eligible to apply for the civil services examination.
The upper age of 32 is relaxable for certain category of applicants -- up to a maximum of five years for those belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe; up to a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes and up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of candidates belonging to Persons with Benchmark Disabilities categories.
Eligible candidates are permitted six attempts at the civil services exam and nine for those from the OBC. There is no limit for candidates belonging to the SC or ST category.
General, Economically Weaker Sections and OBC candidates belonging to the PwBD category are allowed nine attempts at the examination. There is no bar for the PwBD candidates from SC/ST categories to take the examination.
The sources claimed that Khedkar took multiple attempts at the civil services examinations by allegedly forging documents.
"It is categorically stated that in fulfilling its constitutional obligations, the UPSC stringently adheres to its constitutional mandate, and conducts all its processes, including all examinations, with the highest possible order of due diligence without any compromise," the exam conducting body said.
The UPSC has ensured the sanctity and integrity of all its examination processes with the utmost fairness and strict observance of rules, it said.
"The UPSC has deservedly earned the trust and credibility of a very high order from the public, especially the candidates. The Commission is unequivocally committed to ensure that such high order of trust and credibility remains intact and uncompromised," the statement said.
After Khedkar's case related to misuse of disability and Other Backward Class or OBC (non-creamy layer) quotas to secure her candidature in the service came to fore, the Centre on July 11 formed a single-member probe committee.
The panel, headed by Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, additional secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training, has been asked to submit its report within two weeks.
Khedkar got 821st rank in the civil services examination 2022, under OBC category as a person with multiple disabilities, according to UPSC records.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 has a provision to reserve at least four per cent of total seats in government recruitment/department.
The civil services examination is conducted annually by the UPSC in three stages -- preliminary, main and interview -- to select officers of IAS, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Police Service among others.
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