UPSC cancels Puja Khedkar's IAS selection

New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Wednesday cancelled the provisional candidature of Puja Khedkar and permanently debarred her from all the future exams and selections for violating Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2022 Rules.

The UPSC in a statement said, “The UPSC has examined the available records carefully and found her 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.”

Moreover, the UPSC had also reviewed the 15-year CSE data of more than 15,000 finally recommended candidates from the 2009 to 2023 with respect to the number of attempts availed by them.

The Commission said, “Barring the case of Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, no other candidate has been found to have availed more number of attempts than permitted under the CSE Rules. 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”.

The UPSC had issued a show cause notice Khedkar on July 18 for fraudulently availing attempts beyond the permissible limit provided for in the rules by faking her identity. She was to submit her response by July 25. However, she requested for further time till August 4 so that she could gather the necessary documents for her response.

The Commission considered the request granted time till 3.30 pm of July 30 to enable her to submit the response, clearly mentioning that it was the last and final opportunity to her and no further extension in time would be allowed.

The Commission also conveyed to her that if no response was received it 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 UPSC examined the available records carefully and found her guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of the CSE-2022 Rules. Her provisional candidature for the CSE-2022 was cancelled and also debarred her permanently from all the future Examinations/Selections of the UPSC, the statement said.

It may be mentioned that on July 19, the Commission had initiated a series of action against Khedkar, including Criminal Prosecution by filing a First Information Report (FIR) with the police authorities.