UPSC Comes Down Heavily On Puja Khedkar, Seeks Cancellation Of Candidature

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has filed a case against probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who is under investigation for allegedly forging disability certificates to clear the civil services exam.

The commission is seeking to cancel her candidature.

In a statement, the UPSC detailed their investigation, revealing that Khedkar "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."

As a result, the UPSC has initiated several actions against her, including filing a First Information Report (FIR) with the police and issuing a Show Cause Notice (SCN) for the cancellation of her candidature and debarment from future examinations.

The statement highlighted that 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."

On Thursday, Khedkar was summoned by the Pune Police to record her statement.

This followed Khedkar filing a harassment case against Pune District Collector Suhas Diwase, who had reported her alleged misuse of power to the Maharashtra government.