UPSC cancels Pooja Khedkar’s IAS selection, bars her from writing any further exams

In a decisive move, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has found Pooja Khedkar guilty of exceeding the number of permissible attempts by manipulating personal details. Consequently the commission has canceled her selection as trainee IAS officer.

Further, UPSC has also barred Ms. Pooja Khedkar from taking any more entrance exams for life with UPSC. The UPSC has issued a statement noting that Ms Khedkar has been found guilty of violating rules of Civil Services Examination. “A Show Cause Notice (SCN) was issued by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, a provisionally recommended candidate of the Civil Services Examination-2022 (CSE-2022) on 18th July, 2024 for fraudulently availing attempts beyond the permissible limit provided for in the Examination Rules by faking her identity,” it said.

The statement further added that the 34-year-old was told to submit her response to the notice by July 25, but she requested for time till August 4. The UPSC granted her time till July 30 and made it clear that it was the “final opportunity” and “no further extension in time” would be allowed.

UPSC had told her that if no response is received by the deadline, UPSC would take action. “Despite extension in time allowed to her, she failed to submit her explanation within the prescribed time,” the panel said in the statement.

“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,” the statement read.

The panel examined data of more than 15,000 candidates who cleared the IAS screening process between 2009 and 2023 in the aftermath of Pooja Khedkar case. “After this detailed exercise, barring the case of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, no other candidate has been found to have availed more number of attempts than permitted under the CSE Rules,” it said.

“In the lone case of Ms. 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 statement added.

The UPSC clarified that it carries out “only a preliminary scrutiny of the certificates” of candidates. “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”.

Click here to view/download UPSC official statement on Pooja Khedkar case

The Pooja Khedkar Case

Pooja Khedkar was deputed to Pune Collector Office as Assistant Collector for her on field IAS training. It was then that she made demands like a car, accommodation, a cabin and personalized station etc. that a training officer was not entitled to. Her conduct at the office made Pune Collector Suhas Diwase write to Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik, highlighting the trainee IAS officer’s demands. Thereafter, Pooja Khedkar was 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. It then came to light that her father, a former Maharashtra government officer, had property to the tune of 40 crores and she did not qualify for the OBC non-creamy layer tag. It also emerged that she had not appeared for a mandatory health check-up at a government facility to confirm her exemption for disability.

Amid the row, a video of her sarpanch mother brandishing a gun to threaten people emerged. Manorama Khedkar was later arrested. Her father, Dilip Khedkar, is now being investigated in a case of owning assets disproportionate to his income.