The selection of Puja Khedkar as a trainee IAS officer has been cancelled, and she has been barred from taking the entrance exam for life after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) found her guilty of faking her identity to take the exam multiple times.
The UPSC stated that Ms. Khedkar violated the rules of the 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,” the statement said.
The 34-year-old was given until July 25 to respond to the notice, but she requested an extension until August 4. The UPSC granted her time until July 30, emphasizing that it was the “final opportunity” and that “no further extension in time” would be allowed. She was also informed that if no response was received by the deadline, the UPSC would take action. “Despite the extension in time allowed to her, she failed to submit her explanation within the prescribed time,” the panel stated.
The UPSC examined the available records and found her guilty of violating the CSE-2022 Rules. Consequently, her provisional candidature for the CSE-2022 was cancelled, and she was permanently debarred from all future Examinations/Selections of the UPSC.
In light of the Puja Khedkar episode, the UPSC reviewed data from over 15,000 candidates who cleared the IAS screening process between 2009 and 2023. “After this detailed exercise, barring the case of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, no other candidate has been found to have availed more attempts than permitted under the CSE Rules,” the UPSC stated.
“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’ names. 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.
