Puja Khedkar has alleged a “media trial” against her. (FILE)
Mumbai:
Puja Khedkar, a probationary IAS officer who is under scrutiny over alleged misuse of power and privileges, has been recalled to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie and her training put on hold. This is the first major action against Ms Khedkar who had been transferred to Washim from Pune (where she was originally posted) amid allegations of manipulation of disability and OBC certificates for getting into the civil services. She has been recalled to the training academy for “further necessary action”.
“You are hereby relieved from the District Training Programme of the State Government of Maharashtra,” said the release from the General Administration Department. She has been instructed to “join the academy at the earliest” but not later than July 23.
The academy trains civil servants of the IAS cadre and also conducts the foundation course of Group-A central civil services.
The authenticity of various certificates submitted by her to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), one of them indicating visual impairment, is being probed.
Ms Khedkar had earlier submitted two certificates, provided by the Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital in 2018 and 2021, to the UPSC under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) category. She was, however, sent by the UPSC for a medical check-up at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Science. She, however, skipped as many as six appointments between April and August 2022, claimed several reports.
It has now emerged that she applied for a disability certificate from the Aundh government hospital in Pune in August 2022, but after medical tests, her application was rejected.
The 2023-batch officer from Ahmednagar has alleged a “media trial” against her and that she had been the victim of a misinformation campaign.
She was transferred from Pune, where she was posted as an assistant collector, to Washim as a supernumerary assistant collector after she was first accused of demanding perks and facilities to which she was not entitled as a trainee official.
It was alleged she was found using a red beacon and a “Government of Maharashtra” sticker on her private Audi car. She also used Pune Additional Collector Ajay More’s office while he was away. She reportedly removed office furniture, besides demanding letterheads and a VIP number plate. She also raised demands for a separate house and car – perks that are unavailable for junior officers on probation for 24 months.
Last week, the Union government set up a one-member committee “to verify the candidature” of Ms Khedkar and submit a report in two weeks.
Questions were raised about Ms Khedkar’s appointment in the civil services under the OBC non-creamy layer after a Pune RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar alleged that her father had assets worth Rs 40 crore. A person with a family income over Rs 8 lakh per annum is from the ‘creamy layer’ and is not eligible for reservation benefits.
Ms Khedkar has said she will testify in front of the expert committee and that she will “accept the decision of the committee”. “Whatever my submission is, I will give it in front of the committee and the truth will come out,” she added.
Pune Police has also been searching for her parents in a criminal case. A First Information Report was registered against the couple and five others after a video showed her mother Manorama Khedkar, a village sarpanch, allegedly threatening some persons with a gun over a land dispute.