Not recently there came a movie 12th Fail that showed the struggle of millions of Indians who aspire to crack UPSC exam and become an IAS officer. Time, money, years, effort, dreams everything goes for a toss for lakhs of students appearing. And now, there comes a news of trainee IAS Puja Khedkar who seem to have twisted the system in her favour by allegedly manipulating a lot of things to turn things into her favour.
Puja Khedkar declared herself Visually Impaired and Mentally ill in her UPSC Affidavit
In 2021 Pooja Khedkar appeared for UPSC exam. She declared herself to be suffering from mental illness and blindness. Now, this gave her benefits – It led to her selection under the PwBD (Persons with Benchmark disabilities ) despite scoring low marks.
Post her selection, in order to confirm her disability, she was required to undergo UPSC mandated medical examination. However, she dodged these medical tests at AIIMS Delhi at 6 different times – from April 22, 2022 to September 2, 2022.
Instead of attending these tests, Khedkar provided an MRI report from an external center, which the UPSC rejected. Her selection was then challenged her selection in the CAT (Central Administrative Tribunal) by UPSC. Now, the decision was ruled against her. Despite this, her MRI certificate was eventually accepted, confirming her appointment as an IAS officer.
Why was her certificate accepted in another blot on the UPSC system but that is another topic altogether.
False Info in Her Mock Interview
After the trainee IAS got infamous for her action , an old video of one of her mock interviews has gone viral, where she claims that her father’s income is zero and that she is not in contact with her parents because they are “separated”. However, none of her answers in the mock interview align with the reality.
Pooja’s father, Dilip Khedkar is a former bureaucrat who had also contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha election from his home district of Ahmednagar. He visited her multiple times at the Pune collectorate. Puja’s mother, Manorama Khedkar, is also active in public life and serves as the sarpanch of Bhalgaon village in Pathardi tehsil of Ahmednagar. Her maternal grandfather, Jagganath Rao Budhwant, was also an IAS officer.
Pooja Khedkar Possess OBC Non-Creamy Layer Certificate (OBC-NCL)
Another concern casting doubt on Khedkar’s selection pertains to allegations regarding her OBC non-creamy layer certificate. This category is reserved for those with a family annual income below Rs 8 lakh. Interestingly, while a creamy layer has no reservation benefits, does not get monetary benefit from government, have no exemption for competitive tests. The non-creamy layer has all these advantages.
Now, according to the election affidavit of Dilip Khedkar, he has wealth more than Rs 40 crore. In addition to the father’s wealth, Khedkar herself owns 2 flats and four plots valued at approximately Rs 17 crore in Pune and Ahmednagar, as per her 2023 statement of immovable property. Not to forget her mother is also a sarpanch.
These three facts reveal clear manipulations on behalf of Pooja Khedkar. Also, there seems to be fraud and abuse of power. Having OBC-NCL certificate despite family property being in crores is a serious issue that needs to be highlighted. Lastly, which IAS aspirant would not go for a medical test after getting selected?
This entire selection process of Puja Khedkar raises several questions on the selection procedure of UPSC. Now is this manipulation in selection of India’s most reputed exam a recent phenomenon or exists from the very start is something bothering the minds of so many disappointed IAS aspirants existing across the nook and corner of India.
