Controversial IAS officer Puja Khedkar on Friday moved out of Washim, shortly after the UPSC initiated a series of actions against her, including registration of a police case for availing attempts in the civil services exam by faking identity.
“Judiciary will take its course,” Khedkar, accused of misusing power and privileges during her training in Pune, told reporters gathered outside the government rest house in Washim, where she joined duty earlier this month. “I will return soon,” she assured the media as she got into a private car and sped away to Nagpur.
The UPSC said in a statement that it has also served Khedkar with a show-cause notice for “cancellation of her candidature of the Civil Services Examination (CSE)-2022/debarment from future examinations/selections”, in accordance with the rules of the CSE-2022.
The statutory body said that it conducted a detailed investigation into the misdemeanour by Khedkar, whom it described as “a provisionally recommended candidate” for the CSE-2022.
“The investigation has revealed that she fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limits under the examination rules by faking her identity by way of changing her name, her parents’ names, her photograph/signature, her email ID, mobile number and address,” the UPSC said.
Accordingly, the UPSC has initiated a series of actions against her, including criminal proceedings by filing an FIR with the police, besides serving her a show-cause notice.
The UPSC said that in fulfilling its constitutional obligations, it 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.
Following a series of exposes against her, Khedkar, currently appointed as assistant collector, Washim, was last week removed from her field assignment and ordered to report back to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, ‘for further action’.
Meanwhile, the Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body on Friday sealed an engineering firm linked to the mother of controversial probationary Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar over unpaid property tax amounting to nearly Rs 2 lakh, municipal officials said. The junior bureaucrat’s mother, Manorama Khedkar, is currently in the custody of Pune police in a criminal case.
