Centre takes big action against Pooja Khedkar, removes her from Indian Administrative Service with immediate effect

Major action has been taken against dismissed trainee IAS Pooja Khedkar. The central government has relieved Pooja Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with immediate effect under Rule 12 of the IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954. The government has taken action against Pooja on charges of misusing the OBC and disability quota in the UPSC examination. Earlier, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had cancelled her candidature on July 31. She was also barred from future examinations.

Pooja Khedkar appeared in the exam in 2020-21 under the OBC quota under the name ‘Pooja Diliprao Khedkar’. After completing all the attempts in 2021-22, Pooja appeared in the exam under OBC and PWBD (Persons with Disabilities) quota. Then she used the name ‘Pooja Manorama Dilip Khedkar’. Pooja had secured 821 rank at the all India level.

A single-member committee was constituted on July 11 to verify his candidature claims and submitted a report on July 24. Taking into consideration the committee’s report, the government conducted an inquiry as per the provisions of Rule 12 of the IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954.

It was found that Pooja Khedkar applied and appeared for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) between 2012 and 2023. According to the information given by Pooja Khedkar in the application forms between CSE-2012 and CSE-2023, it has been found that she had made more attempts than the maximum 9 attempts allowed under the OBC and disability quota. She had made more attempts in the Civil Services Examination than the maximum permissible nine attempts in her claimed category (OBC and PwBD), hence she had completed all the attempts in the Civil Services Examinations between 2012 and 2020 i.e. before CSE-2022.

Under Rule 3 of the CSE Rules 2022, the maximum number of attempts available to candidates of different categories has been prescribed. The number of attempts for OBC and PWBD has been fixed at 9. After investigation, it was found that Pooja Khedkar was ineligible to be a candidate in CSE-2022, which was the year of her selection and appointment in the IAS.

After this, on July 31, UPSC cancelled the candidature of Pooja Khedkar and barred her from appearing in any future examination. This decision was taken after Pooja Khedkar was found guilty of misusing her powers and violating the provisions of the CSE (Civil Services Examination) 2022 Rules, including misrepresenting her identity.

UPSC also initiated a criminal case against Pooja Khedkar for cheating and forgery. After this, Pooja Khedkar approached the Delhi High Court challenging the decision of UPSC to cancel her candidature. In her reply before the court, Pooja Khedkar claimed that she did not manipulate her name or give wrong information to UPSC.