Puja Khedkar’s IAS training put on hold: How the controversy unfolded | India News

NEW DELHI: An official car with VIP number plate, quarter and a seperate cabin with adequate staff — It all started when Puja Khedkar, a trainee IAS officer, sought special treatment from the collector’s office that are not allowed for a probation officer. What started as a regular transfer case after complaints of alleged misuse of power, led to several questions regarding her disability certificate, selection criteria, etc.
In a big step, the government on Tuesday put Khedkar’s training in Maharashtra on hold and asked her to report back to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration by July 23.
Here’s how the controversy around trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar unfolded over the past few days.

Audi with red beacon

Pooja Khedkar came to the limelight after she was transferred by the Maharashtra government from Pune to Washim following complaints of alleged misuse of power.
Amid this, she also used her private Audi car with a red-blue beacon light and VIP number plate. A ‘Maharashtra government’ board was also installed on her private car. The video, which went viral on social media, captured Khedkar arriving at the Pune Zilla Parishad office in the luxury vehicle with the beacon light flashing.
As the viral went viral, the 2023 batch probationary officer was transferred from Pune collector’s office to Washim.
Officials said she was shifted based on the collector’s report that said Khedkar “sought special privileges, which were not allowed to an IAS probationary officer”.
OBC quota controversy
Troubles mounted for Khedkar after Maharashtra OBC welfare minister Atul Save announced a suo motu investigation to scrutinise the claims of Puja Khedkar that she belonged to the OBC non-creamy layer.
Khedkar had declared herself as belonging to the OBC non-creamy layer to appear in the UPSC examinations.
Save told TOI, “The social justice department will take cognisance of the matter and conduct a thorough inquiry to ascertain how she obtained the non-creamy layer certificate.”
The decision comes in the light of the details of her father Dilip Khedkar’s recent Lok Sabha poll affidavit filed as a candidate from Ahmednagar seat which showed assets worth Rs 40 crore. The annual family income threshold for seeking reservation under the OBC non-creamy layer category is set at Rs 8 lakh.
Disability claims under cloud
Khedkar allegedly submitted fake disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates to clear the civil services exam. Reports indicated that she also submitted a mental illness certificate.
In April 2022, she was asked to report to Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for verification of her disability certificate but did not comply, citing a Covid-19 infection.
Khedkar is said to have recurrently failed to appear for mandatory medical tests to confirm her disability, despite having qualified for IAS in the ‘Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD)’ category.
Curious case of different names
Puja Khedkar, who by now was in the eye of the storm for alleged misuse of power and manipulating disability and OBC quotas, found herself in deeper trouble as discrepancy was found on her part wherein she allegedly used two different names – Khedkar Puja Deeliprao and Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar during civil services exams.
In 2019, in her civil services prelims exam, the IAS trainee had registered herself as Khedkar Puja Deeliprao, and her appointment in SAI was also in the same name with Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) (LV) – OBC.
However, in her 2022 service allocation by Union Public Services Commission (UPSC), where she was selected for IAS, she went by the name Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar under the PwBD-multiple disabilities (MD) category.
In a Central Administrative Tribunal, Mumbai bench, order dated Feb 23, 2023, her name as the applicant was mentioned as Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar.
Probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar had in August 2022 simultaneously applied for disability certificates for locomotor disability from District Civil Hospital, Aundh, and Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital, Pimpri, both in Pune, report Nisha Nambiar & Swati Shinde Gole.
MBBS seat in nomadic tribe-3 quota
Embroiled in a controversy over the legitimacy of her certificates, Khedkar was alleged to have secured MBBS admission to Pune’s Shrimati Kashibai Navale Medical College and General Hospital in 2007 under the reserved nomadic tribe-3 category furnishing a non-creamy layer OBC certificate.
Khedkar gained admission through the Association of Management of Unaided Private Medical and Dental Colleges of Maharashtra (AMUPMDC) entrance test, scoring 146 out of 200, said college director Arvind Bhore said Saturday. AMUPMDC no longer exists after NEET’s introduction.
Puja Khedkar’s parents on run
Amid heightened media scrutiny of Puja Khedkar, her parents are on the run following the filing of an FIR against them for allegedly threatening a farmer.
Separate teams of Pune police visited the Baner bungalow of Puja’s mother, Manorama Khedkar, on Sunday, but received no response despite repeated attempts to make contact.
The case was filed on Friday night after a video surfaced showing Manorama Khedkar, accompanied by private bouncers, brandishing a pistol on June 5, last year, during an argument with farmers over a land ownership dispute.
On Saturday, police recorded statements from witnesses in Dhadawali and conducted a spot panchnama.
At 7 am on Sunday, officials from the Paud police and the Rural police’s local crime branch arrived at Manorama’s bungalow.