Trainee IAS Puja Khedkar Found Guilty: UPSC Cancels Provisional Candidature, Debars Her From All Exams

Trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who was accused of faking her identity, has been found guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of the CSE-2022 Rules, the UPSC said in a statement on Wednesday. Her provisional candidature for the CSE-2022 has been cancelled and she has also been debarred permanently from all the future Examinations/Selections of the UPSC.

New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has cancelled trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar's provisional candidature and barred her from taking any future exams, stating that it went through records of 15,000 candidates over 15 years and found her guilty.

In a statement on Wednesday, the UPSC said it has examined the available records carefully and found Puja Khedkar guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of the CSE-2022 Rules. "Her provisional candidature for the CSE-2022 has been cancelled and she has also been debarred permanently from all the future Examinations/Selections of the UPSC," the UPSC said in its statement.

Explaining how it reached the decision, the Commission said it issued a Show Cause Notice (SCN) to Puja Khedkar July 18, 2024 for fraudulently availing attempts beyond the permissible limit provided for in the examination rules by faking her identity. She was to submit her response to by July 25. However, she requested for further time till August 4 so that she could gather the necessary documents for her response.

"The UPSC carefully considered the request of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar and in order to meet the ends of justice, she was granted time till 3:30 pm of 30th July, 2024 so as to enable her to submit the response to the SCN," the UPSC said.

"It was also categorically made clear to Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar that it was last and final opportunity to her and no further extension in time would be allowed. It was also conveyed to her in unequivocal terms that if no response was received by the aforesaid date/time, the UPSC would take further action without entertaining any further reference from her. Despite extension in time allowed to her, she failed to submit her explanation within the prescribed time," the Commission said.

UPSC Examined 15,000 Candidates Over 15 Years To Check If Puja Availed More Attempts

In the backdrop of the case of Puja Khedkar, the UPSC said it thoroughly examined the available data of more than 15,000 finally recommended candidates of the CSEs from the year 2009 to 2023 i.with respect to the number of attempts availed by them.

After this detailed exercise, barring the case of Khedkar, no other candidate was found to have availed more number of attempts than permitted under the CSE Rules, the UPSC said.

"In the lone case of Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the UPSC could not detect her number of attempts, primarily due to the fact that she changed not only her name but also her parents’ name. The UPSC is in the process of further strengthening the SOP to ensure that such a case does not recur in the future," it said.

On False Certificates

As far as the complaints regarding the submission of false certificates (specifically OBC & PwBD categories) are concerned, the UPSC clarified that it does only a preliminary scrutiny of the certificates.

"...whether the certificate has been issued by the competent authority, the year to which the certificate pertains, issuing date of the certificate, whether there is any overwriting on the certificate, format of the certificate etc. Generally, the certificate is taken as genuine, if it has been issued by the competent authority. The UPSC neither has the mandate nor the wherewithal to check the veracity of thousands of certificates submitted by the candidates every year. However, it is understood that scrutiny and verification of genuineness of certificates is carried out by the authorities mandate with the task," the Commission said in its statement.

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