Puja Khedkar dismissed from service: The false rise and deep fall of an IAS probationer

Her father Dilip Khedkar, a former state government official, had allegedly threatened collectorate officials with dire consequences if they did not cooperate with his daughter. Pune’s district collector Suhas Diwase had subsequently written to the state’s chief secretary Sujata Saunik about her behaviour. Khedkar was then transferred to Washim as an assistant collector.

However, by then, questions were raised about the validity of various certificates, including her disability certificate and the caste certificate issued to her. Her appointment was under the OBC category and Khedkar had claimed she had multiple disabilities, including visual and psychiatric.

The validity of her caste certificate came into question as her father had declared a total asset of Rs 40 crores in his election affidavit. It also came to light that Khedkar exceeded the number of attempts available for cracking the examination by a slight change in her name. The validity of her disability certificate also was questioned as it soon appeared that she had failed to obtain the same from Pune and had managed to obtain the same from Ahmednagar, her home district.

Trouble started brewing for the family as old videos of her mother Manorama brandishing a gun came to light. Both her father and mother were subsequently arrested and are now out on bail.

Khedkar’s probation was terminated with the Mussorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration calling her back. The UPSC, after reports from Nashik’s divisional commissioner Pravin Gedam, subsequently dismissed Khedkar from service due to charges of forged documents and willfully appearing for examinations despite exceeding her attempts. Khedkar had challenged this dismissal in the Delhi High Court.

AAP leader and RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar welcomed this move and said action should be taken against other officers whose certificates are under the cloud.