UPSC moves second perjury application against ex-trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar, Delhi HC seeks response from accused

This second application was filed by the UPSC opposing the anticipatory bail plea by Khedkar, pending before the court of Justice Subramonium Prasad. The court on Thursday permitted Khedkar’s counsel to file their response by September 26 when it is due to hear her anticipatory bail plea next.

The UPSC has contended that Khedkar “falsely submitted on affidavit that the Commission collected her biometrics.” The UPSC has submitted that it did not collect any biometric information from any candidate during the personality test of the Civil Services Examinations held so far.

The UPSC contended that Khedkar has “committed perjury by filing a false affidavit and the intent behind making such blatantly false statement naturally appears to be an attempt for obtaining favourable orders on the basis of the false statement… it is gainsaid that such statement has a bearing on the core issue of the instant case which relates and pertains to commission of forgery to avail attempts beyond the permissible limit in UPSC CSE. As such, offenders who pollute the fountain of justice by lying on oath and making falsified averments are required to be dealt with in the strictest possible manner.”

Khedkar, in her rejoinder affidavit, had submitted that she was selected on the basis of merit in the category of Persons with Benchmark Disability (PwBD) in her fifth attempt against the nine attempts available under the category and that her prior attempts from 2012 to 2017 were not under the same category. She had further submitted that all the documents she had submitted were verified by the authorities and that none of the documents produced were forged, fabricated, or created and were issued by the competent authorities.

Earlier, the UPSC had moved an application accusing Khedkar of perjury in her petition where she had sought quashing of the UPSC’s press release announcing the cancellation of her candidature. Khedkar had argued that she had not been served with the order and was only informed of the cancellation of her candidature through a press release issued by the UPSC on July 31.

The UPSC, in its application alleging Khedkar of perjury, before the court of Justice Jyoti Singh, had pointed out that the petition was signed and attested on July 28 when the UPSC’s order cancelling her candidature was not even in existence. The court of Justice Singh is due to hear this perjury application next on November 26.