Puja Khedkar discharged from IAS with immediate effect
The Centre on Saturday discharged Puja Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with immediate effect, almost a month after the UPSC had cancelled her selection.
Khedkar was held guilty of cheating and wrongly availing Other Backward Classes (OBC) and disability quota benefits.
The UPSC had barred her from taking the entrance exam for life after cancelling her selection. It had found her guilty of faking her identity to take the exam multiple times.
After the controversy had erupted, the Commission had checked the data of more than 15,000 candidates who had cleared the IAS screening process between 2009 and 2023.
“After this detailed exercise, barring the case of Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, no other candidate has been found to have availed of more number of attempts than permitted under the CSE Rules,” the UPSC had said, referring to the Civil Services Examination Rules.
Khedkar’s case had come to light when, in June, Pune Collector Suhas Diwase had written to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary, pointing out that the trainee IAS officer had demanded perks like a car, staff and an office, to which she was not entitled to during her probation period of two years.
She was subsequently 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.
