UPSC lacks power to disqualify after appointment, Khedkar tells HC
Refuting the allegations of fake documents and fraud levelled by UPSC against her, Khedkar, in a four-page reply, asserted that she neither changed her first name and surname from 2012 to 2022, nor manipulated or misrepresented her name to the commission.
Probationary Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar on Wednesday told the Delhi high court that after her selection and appointment, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) lacks the power to disqualify her, and that the any action against her can be taken only by the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
Refuting the allegations of fake documents and fraud levelled by UPSC against her, Khedkar, in a four-page reply, asserted that she neither changed her first name and surname from 2012 to 2022, nor manipulated or misrepresented her name to the commission.
“That there has been no change in the applicant’s first name and surname, from 2012 to 2022, as consistently reflected in all DAFs. The applicant has not manipulated or misrepresented her name to UPSC. All other details, including academic certificates, Aadhaar card, date of birth, and personal information, have remained consistent in the DAF,” the reply stated.
The reply, filed a day before the court is slated to hear the matter, added: “Furthermore, UPSC has verified the applicant’s identity through biometric data (eyes and fingerprints) collected during the personality tests of 2019, 2021, and 2022 and all the documents were verified by the Commission during the personality test on 26.05. 2022.
The reply was been filed by Khedkar in her petition seeking pre-arrest bail in the case registered against her for fraudulently availing attempts in the UPSC examination beyond the permissible limit by faking her identity.
In its reply filed on August 20, UPSC opposed pre-arrest, bail saying that her custodial interrogation is required to unearth the truth relating to the people who hatched a design that enabled her to secure her provisional selection in CSE-2022.
The commission stated that the gravity of the fraud committed by Khedkar was unprecedented in nature as it was not only committed against the commission, whose traditions are untrammelled and unparalleled, but also against the public at large, including the citizens of the country who have faith in the commission’s credibility.
Responding to UPSC’s affidavit, Khedkar claimed in her reply that none of the documents produced were forged, fabricated or created, and were issued by competent authorities. She added that she was entitled to pre-arrest bail and her custodial interrogation was not required as the commission was already in possession of 11 documents, and no further documentation was required from her.
On August 21, the high court extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Khedkar till August 29, even as the same was opposed by the Delhi police and UPSC.
Delhi Police, in a status report filed on August 21, said Khedkar’s custody was needed to unearth a “deep-rooted conspiracy” she hatched with other people to get benefits as an “OBC+Non-Creamy Layer” candidate, by showing that her parents are divorced. The circumstances, however, suggest that her parents were living together, and that she made a false declaration with respect to her previous number of attempts while writing the Civil Services Examination (CSE)-2021 under a changed name, it added.
