Pooja Khedkar is no longer an IAS officer. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has cancelled her post of trainee IAS. Along with this, Pooja has been banned from appearing in any UPSC exam forever.
Pooja Khedkar has been in the news for the last few months. Many allegations have been leveled against her. After this, UPSC has taken this action against her.
UPSC issued a statement saying that all the records were thoroughly examined. In this, Pooja was found guilty of violating the Civil Services Examination Rules (CSE-Rules) of 2022.
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It has been told in the statement that the provisional candidature of the probationary IAS officer of the 2023 batch has been cancelled. Along with this, they have also been barred from future UPSC exams and selection.
Why Pooja Khedkar’s job was cancelled?
UPSC said that the records of more than 15 thousand candidates were checked between 2009 and 2023. It was found that apart from Pooja, no other candidate had given more attempts than the prescribed number.
It is stated in the statement that Pooja could not be caught because she had appeared in the exam several times by changing not only her name but also her parents’ name. UPSC said that the SOP will be strengthened further so that such cases do not happen again.
UPSC had issued a show cause notice to Pooja Khedkar on July 18. She had to reply by July 25. However, Pooja had asked for time till August 4, after which UPSC gave her time till July 30. She was also instructed that this is the last chance, but despite this, Pooja failed to give her clarification.
How did you lose your job after passing the exam?
Pooja Khedkar passed the UPSC exam in 2022. She got 841st rank. Pooja is an IAS officer of the 2023 batch. Her training started in June 2024 itself.
In such a situation, the question arises that how did Pooja’s official status get cancelled after passing the exam? Actually, Pooja was still a provisional candidate.
After clearing the exam and interview, UPSC posts the candidate. But this posting is provisional for a few months. During this time, the candidate’s eligibility and documents are verified. If it is found in the verification that the candidate does not fulfill any condition or has submitted fake documents, then UPSC cancels his candidature.
If the documents of any candidate are found to be incorrect, action is taken against him under the CSE rules. Under this, UPSC not only cancels the candidature of that candidate, but also bans him from appearing in the civil services exam for some time or forever.
This is what happened with Pooja Khedkar. She had cleared the exam. But when the investigation was done, some irregularities were found. Therefore, UPSC cancelled her candidature and banned her from appearing in the exam for life.
When can the candidature be cancelled?
There are many things mentioned in the Civil Services Exam Rules, which if a candidate is found guilty of, his candidature is cancelled.
If a candidate is found guilty of bribing, threatening, blackmailing, submitting fake or fabricated documents, making false claims, hiding important information, influencing or intimidating the examiner, tearing the question paper, writing obscene content in the exam copy, misbehaving in the examination hall, carrying mobile phone, smartwatch, camera, Bluetooth device or pen drive in the examination hall, then the candidature is cancelled. Pooja Khedkar. (file photo)
What is its process?
Whenever a candidate gives the UPSC exam, documents are demanded from him at that time. Even at that time the documents are checked. But after clearing the exam and interview, when the candidate is posted, then the documents are verified.
For example, if a candidate is handicapped, it is checked. AIIMS doctors do his medical examination. If any problem is found, UPSC cancels the candidature. He is also banned from appearing in the exam for some time or forever.
However, before doing all this, the candidate is also given a chance to present his side. If the candidate does not present his side or UPSC is not satisfied with his answer, then action is taken against him as per the rules.
How was Pooja Khedkar caught?
In June this year, Pooja Khedkar was appointed as Probationary Assistant Collector in Pune. She was undergoing training here. But she started making unreasonable demands. She installed a red-blue light on her Audi car. She demanded the facilities that were given to senior officers.
Eventually, Pune Collector Suhas Divas filed a complaint, following which Pooja was transferred to Washim. After this, when an investigation was conducted, it was found that she had used many fake documents to get selected in UPSC.
Investigation revealed that Pooja had also claimed to be mentally ill before UPSC. She had also got a disability certificate made fraudulently. The address she had given in her disability certificate also turned out to be wrong.
Not only this, Pooja had stated her age as 30 years in the application given to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in 2020. But in the application given in 2023, she stated her age as 31 years. Pooja changed her name and her parents’ name and gave the exam more times than the prescribed number of attempts. An OBC candidate can give only 9 attempts, but Pooja gave the exam more times than this.
The biggest allegation against Pooja is that she is taking advantage of the OBC non-creamy layer quota. Her father has assets worth 40 crores, while Pooja herself owns assets worth more than 17 crores. The benefit of OBC quota is available when the annual income of the parents is less than 8 lakhs. She hid her assets in her OBC certificate and took advantage of the quota.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)