UPSC cancels Puja Khedkar's selection, bans her for life for identity fraud

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Wednesday cancelled the selection of Puja Khedkar as a trainee Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and imposed a lifetime ban on her from taking any future UPSC examinations. This severe action follows the discovery that Khedkar had falsified her identity to surpass the permissible number of attempts for the Civil Services Examination (CSE).

The UPSC, in a statement, confirmed that Khedkar was found guilty of violating the Civil Services Examination rules by faking her identity to gain additional attempts. "A show cause notice (SCN) was issued to Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, a provisionally recommended candidate of the Civil Services Examination-2022 (CSE-2022), on July 18, 2024, for fraudulently availing attempts beyond the permissible limit provided in the examination rules by faking her identity," the statement read.

Khedkar, aged 34, was given until July 25 to respond to the notice. However, she requested an extension until August 4. The UPSC granted her time till July 30, clearly stating that it was a "final opportunity" and that "no further extension in time" would be allowed. Despite this extension, Khedkar failed to submit her explanation within the prescribed timeframe.

After a thorough examination of the available records, the UPSC determined that Khedkar had indeed violated the CSE-2022 rules. Consequently, her provisional candidature for the CSE-2022 has been cancelled, and she has been permanently debarred from all future UPSC examinations and selections.

'Barring Puja Khedkar, no other such case found'

In light of the Khedkar incident, the UPSC conducted an extensive review of the data of over 15,000 candidates who cleared the IAS screening process between 2009 and 2023. The commission stated, "After this detailed exercise, barring the case of Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, no other candidate has been found to have availed more attempts than permitted under the CSE Rules."

The UPSC acknowledged that its current standard operating procedure (SOP) failed to detect Khedkar's multiple attempts primarily due to her deliberate changes in her name and her parents' names. The commission assured that steps are being taken to further strengthen the SOP to prevent such cases in the future.

The UPSC also clarified its role in scrutinising candidate documents, stating that it performs only a preliminary check of certificates submitted by candidates. "Generally, the certificate is taken as genuine if it has been issued by the competent authority. The UPSC neither has the mandate nor the wherewithal to check the veracity of thousands of certificates submitted by candidates every year. However, it is understood that scrutiny and verification of the genuineness of certificates is carried out by the authorities mandated with the task," the statement concluded.