UPSC Nullifies Puja Khedkar’s IAS Selection and Imposes Lifetime Ban for Identity Fraud
New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has annulled Puja Khedkar’s IAS selection and imposed a lifetime ban on her from participating in any future UPSC exams due to identity fraud. Khedkar was found guilty of manipulating her personal details and misusing quotas to exceed the allowed number of attempts in the Civil Services Examination (CSE).
On July 18, 2024, the UPSC issued a Show Cause Notice to Khedkar after discovering significant irregularities in her application. Although she was granted an extension until July 30 to respond, she did not provide any explanation. The investigation uncovered that Khedkar had changed her name, her parents’ names, and other personal information to bypass the examination rules. She also obtained a fraudulent disability certificate from a Pune hospital, despite no evidence of actual disability.
A review of over 15,000 IAS candidates from 2009 to 2023 confirmed that Khedkar was the only individual who had exceeded the permissible number of attempts. The UPSC acknowledged that her extensive alterations to her identity had evaded their standard procedures. Consequently, the UPSC is taking steps to improve its scrutiny processes to prevent similar issues in the future.
The UPSC clarified that it performs an initial verification of certificates but relies on the issuing authorities for authenticity checks, lacking the resources to thoroughly verify every submitted document.
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