Puja Khedkar, the 2023-batch officer from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) cadre, belongs to an influential family and has apparently invited more trouble by pushing very hard and misusing her power during her probation period to gain authority and status. Every day, there are new revelations showing how Ms Khedkar, the daughter of former IAS officer Dilip Khedkar, misrepresented herself under the physical disabilities category and also belonging to a lower income group. In latest development, following a letter from the Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Maharashtra government has decided to immediately relieve Ms Khedkar from the district training programme. She is asked to report back to LBSNAA for ‘further necessary action’.
In a post on X, senior journalist Ravikiran Deshmukh shared the letter from Nitin Gadre, additional chief secretary of Maharashtra, relieving Ms Khedkar and the letter from LBSNAA, asking the trainee IAS officer to report back to the Institute by 23 July 2024.
Meanwhile, even as the administration and police are taking their own time to investigate the matter, Pune-based right-to-information (RTI) activist Vijay Kumbhar is coming up with new information about Ms Khedkar almost daily.
In his latest post on X, Mr Kumbhar says, "Trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar has a ration card registered to a private limited company's address. However, the ration card is not proof of residence. She applied for disability certificates at Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial (YCM) Hospital & District Hospital, Aundh, using two addresses. The car she used as an IAS officer belongs to Thermoverita Engineering Pvt Ltd. She applied on 23 August 2022 at Aundh Hospital and received it (the disability certificate) the next day from YCM. Earlier certificates were from Ahmednagar district."
Ms Khedkar, the Maharashtra cadre trainee IAS officer, faces accusations of using fraudulent means to clear her Union public service commission (UPSC) examination, including allegedly misrepresenting herself under the physical disabilities and other backward categories (OBC) and misusing power and privileges during her posting in Pune.
She even appeared for the UPSC twice using two different names. In 2020, she used the name Dr Khedkar Puja Deeliprao, aged 30. And, in 2023, she changed her name to Ms Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, aged 31 years, according to a report from
TimesNow.
Documents seen by the channel reveal that Ms Khedkar not only changed the spelling of her father's name but also removed her title, Dr, in 2023.
She has allegedly submitted multiple medical certificates, one of them indicating visual impairment, under the persons with benchmark disabilities (PwBD) provision. She cleared the UPSC from the OBC non-creamy layer category.
Following a complaint from the Pune district collector's office about the trainee IAS officer demanding a separate cabin, official residence, vehicle and support staff and illegally using a beacon on a private car, Ms Khedkar was transferred to Washim district to complete her training. She will serve there as a 'supernumerary assistant collector' till 30 July 2025.
On Sunday, the Pune police confiscated the Audi car used by the controversial probationary officer by allegedly installing a red and blue beacon on it illegally. The car is registered in the name of Thermoverita Engineering.
Mr Kumbhar says, "The Audi car used by Ms Khedkar belongs to Thermoverita Engineering. A past director of this company was also a director with her mother Dr Manorama Khedkar, in Diligence Infra Projects Pvt Ltd. Puja Khedkar is also a past director of Diligence Infra Projects."
While Ms Khedkar submitted a non-creamy layer certificate for the UPSC, Mr Kumbhar dug out some startling information about the Khedkar family's wealth. He says, Ms Khedkar's parents possess property that includes 110 acres of agricultural land, violating the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act, six shops, seven flats, including one in Hiranandani, 900 grams of gold, diamonds, a gold watch worth Rs17 lakh, four cars, partnerships in two private limited companies and one automobile firm. Ms Khedkar herself possesses property worth Rs17 crore.
Her father, Dilip Khedkar, is a former state government officer from Maharashtra, unsuccessfully contested the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections from Ahmednagar constituency on a ticket from Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi of Prakash Ambedkar. In his election affidavit, Mr Khedkar showed a wealth of over Rs40 crore for himself and Rs18 crore for his wife. Manorama Khedkar, the mother of the trainee IAS officer, is also in public life and is the sarpanch of Bhalgaon village gram panchayat in Pathardi taluka of Ahmednagar district. Manorama Khedkar's father, Jagannath Rao Budhwant, was also a government officer.
“Ms Khedkar became an IAS officer from the OBC non-creamy layer category. Her father's election affidavit shows his income and wealth as Rs40 crore. How can such income fall into the non-creamy layer? She has admitted to being mentally ill and a person with multiple disabilities. However, she skipped medical examinations several times. How did she qualify for IAS? These are big questions,” Mr Kumbhar says.
Ms Khedkar also did not appear for the medical tests at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to prove her PwBD status. Even when the UPSC challenged her selection, the central administrative tribunal (CAT) ruled against her. Yet, she still was inducted into the IAS cadre.
Earlier, when Ms Khedkar was transferred to Washim district, Mr Kumbhar raised some pertinent questions, such as investigating the controversial conduct of the trainee IAS officer. "The trainee IAS woman officer who was causing a disturbance at the Pune Collectorate has been transferred to Washim. This is not a punishment but a way of passing the problem elsewhere. It will not address the original issue. Who will investigate the controversial conduct and when? Can a mentally ill person be allowed into administrative service? Her transfer has been shown as being for administrative reasons. What was the problem with stating the real reason? If this is the state of the Indian Administrative Service, it is better not to talk about other services,"
he says.
Mahesh Zagade, an IAS officer and former principal secretary of the Maharashtra government, says this (the case of Puja Khedkar) warrants investigation, lest the youth's faith in the system be shattered. "If she is right, the witch hunt must cease. If the system is breached, as initial evidence suggests, it endangers not just one candidate's rights but the credibility of the IAS, tasked with safeguarding 142 crore citizens," he
says in a post on X.
The prime minister's officer (PMO) and the Maharashtra government also took serious cognisance of the offences and conduct of Ms Khedkar. Last week, the Union government set up a one-member committee to re-examine documents submitted by Ms Khedkar to clear the UPSC examination. The LBSNAA has also sought a report from the state government.
Pune police have also registered a first information report (FIR) against Manorama Khedkar, Dilip Khedkar and five others after a video went viral showing Ms Khedkar’s mother threatening a group with a gun. The video is allegedly from Dhadwali village in Mulshi taluka in Pune district, where Mr Khedkar has purchased some land.
Can the GOI not have AADHAR linked Educational, Medical & all related matters implemented, so that MERIT BASED GENERAL CATEGORY & Deserving Reserved categories don't suffer & loose out in life?????????
Some punishment!