UPSC revokes Puja Khedkar's IAS selection, imposes lifetime exam ban

New Delhi: Puja Khedkar's selection as a trainee IAS officer has been revoked, and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has permanently prevented her from taking the entrance exam due to her repeated instances of identity fraud. Ms. Khedkar has been found guilty of breaking the regulations of the Civil Services Examination, according to a statement from the UPSC. "

On July 18, 2024, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) issued a Show Cause Notice (SCN) to Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, a provisionally recommended candidate of the Civil Services Examination-2022 (CSE-2022), for fraudulently using her identity to obtain attempts that exceeded the allowable limit specified in the Examination Rules."

UPSC and the drama

The 34-year-old was instructed to reply to the notice by July 25 at the latest, but she asked for an extension until August 4. The UPSC gave her till July 30 to make her move, but they also stated that this was her "last chance" and that "no more extensions of time" would be permitted. She was also informed that UPSC would take action if no response was received by the deadline. The panel stated in the statement that "she failed to provide her explanation within the specified time, despite the extension in time allowed to her." "The UPSC determined that she had violated the CSE-2022 Rules after closely reviewing the records that were available. Her temporary application for the CSE-2022 has been revoked, and she has also been permanently barred from any UPSC examination or selection in the future," the statement stated.

Panel review

The panel stated that it had reviewed the data of almost 15,000 candidates who passed the IAS screening procedure between 2009 and 2023, following the Puja Khedkar incident. It stated, "After this thorough effort, no other candidate has been found to have availed more attempts than authorized under the CSE Rules, with the exception of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar."

"In the single instance of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, the UPSC's Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was unable to determine the number of attempts she had made, mainly because she had changed both her parents' and her own names. To make sure that a situation like this does not happen again, the UPSC is currently working to enhance the SOP even more," the statement continued.