UPSC has no right… Pooja Khedkar challenged her disqualification in Delhi High Court

New Delhi: Trainee IAS officer Pooja Khedkar was accused of misusing her position, after which her post was also taken away from her. Now Pooja has challenged her disqualification. Filing her reply in the Delhi High Court, she has said that the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has no right to take action against her. Khedkar mentioned that action under the All India Services Act, 1954 and the Trainee Rules can only be taken by the DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training), which is according to Rule 19 of the CSE 2022 Rules.

On July 31, the UPSC had cancelled the provisional candidature of Pooja Khedkar and barred her from appearing in any future examination or selection. The decision was taken after Khedkar was found guilty of misusing her powers and acting contrary to the provisions of the CSE (Civil Services Examination) 2022 Rules. It was found that she had given false information about her identity.

What did Pooja say in her reply?
The UPSC had also initiated a criminal case against Khedkar for cheating, fraud and forgery. Following this, Khedkar has moved the Delhi High Court challenging the UPSC’s decision to cancel his/her provisional candidature. In his/her reply before the court, Khedkar claimed that he/she did not manipulate or misrepresent his/her name before the UPSC. his/her reply states that there has been no change in the applicant’s first name and surname as they are consistently reflected in all DAFs from 2012 to 2022.

She further stated in her reply that UPSC has verified her identity through biometric data (CY and fingerprint) collected during the personality test of 2019, 2021 and 2022 and all the documents were verified by the Commission during the personality test on 26 May 20222. Puja Khedkar, till 2020-21, appeared for the exam under OBC quota with the name ‘Puja Diliprao Khedkar’. In 2021-22, after exhausting all attempts, she appeared for the exam under OBC and PwBD (Person with Benchmark Disability) quota. This time she managed to clear the exam with a rank of 821 using the name ‘Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar’.