Aadhar in UPSC Exams: Dishonesty like the tantrum-loving Pooja Khedkar will not work anymore! IAS exam will be connected to Aadhar

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will now identify candidates through Aadhaar card. This system will be applicable in different examinations of UPSC. Initially, this system will be voluntary. On Wednesday, the Personnel Department issued a notification. It said that UPSC will have to follow the Aadhaar Act, its rules and all the instructions of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

The Department of Personnel has authorised the UPSC to use voluntary Aadhaar authentication to verify the identity of candidates at the time of registration on the ‘One Time Registration’ portal and at multiple stages of examinations or recruitment tests, according to a notification dated Wednesday. This will include ‘Yes/No’ or e-KYC authentication facilities.

This decision has been taken to enhance the credibility of the UPSC examination process. This step is very important in view of the recent controversy related to the candidature of IAS officer Pooja Khedkar in the Civil Services Examination 2022.

Pooja Khedkar was accused of violating rules by manipulating her identity and misusing categories like Other Backward Classes (OBC) Non-Creamy Layer. She has been permanently banned from all future UPSC exams.

The UPSC had issued a show-cause notice to Khedkar for ‘fraudulently obtaining more attempts than the permissible limit prescribed in the examination rules by impersonating his/her identity’.

In July, the UPSC had initiated action against Khedkar. This included filing a case of forgery by misrepresenting his/her identity to obtain unfair advantage in the civil services exam. The Delhi Police has since registered a case and started investigation.