New Delhi5 hours ago
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On July 31, UPSC cancelled Pooja’s selection and barred her from appearing in any exam in future.
- In the disability certificate, Pooja Khedkar’s address was written as ‘Plot No. 53, Dehu Alandi Road, Talawade, Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune’. However, there is no house at this address, but a factory named Thermoverta Engineering Company. Pooja’s Audi which was seized was registered in the name of this company.
- As per government norms, Aadhaar card is mandatory for making a disability certificate, but ration card was used in Pooja’s certificate.
- After getting selected in UPSC through disabled quota, many disability certificates of Pooja have come to light. Pooja Khedkar had submitted two disability certificates issued by Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital to UPSC in 2018 and 2021.
- Pooja had taken several appointments for medical examination in Delhi to confirm her disability certificate, but later she submitted the report prepared in a private hospital to UPSC.
- Yashwant Rao Chavan Memorial (YCM) Hospital has clarified that there was no mistake in making Pooja Khedkar’s locomotor certificate. Pooja was shown to have 7% locomotor disability in the certificate. The hospital is run by Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.
- In an affidavit given to UPSC, Pooja had claimed that she is mentally challenged and also has problems in seeing. Pooja had refused to take the medical test 6 times, whereas it is mandatory to take the medical test.
- According to several media reports, Pooja’s first medical test was scheduled at Delhi AIIMS in April 2022. She refused to attend it citing being Covid positive.
- Action under the All India Services Act, 1954 and Apprentice Rules can only be taken by the DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training), as per Rule 19 of the CSE 2022 Rules.
- There has been no change in his name or surname from 2012 to 2022, nor has he provided any wrong information about himself to the UPSC.
- UPSC had verified the identity through biometric data. The commission has not found any document to be duplicate or fake.
- All the data including educational certificate, Aadhar card, date of birth and personal information are made correct in the Detailed Application Form (DAF).
- Pooja broke the rules: UPSC said that a show cause notice (SCN) was issued on July 18 for appearing in the civil services exam more than the prescribed limit by changing identity. It said that Pooja had to give her reply by July 25, but she sought time till August 4 to collect the necessary documents for her reply. The commission said, she was again given time till 3:30 pm on July 30, but she did not respond.
- 15,000 data checked, not sure how many attempts Pooja gave: Due to Khedkar’s case, UPSC examined the data of more than 15,000 recommended candidates from 2009 to 2023. It was found that no other candidate except her had given more attempts than the prescribed number of attempts under the CSE rules. The case of Miss Pooja Manorama Dilip Khedkar was unique. She had appeared in the exam several times by changing not only her name but also the names of her parents, so the UPSC’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) could not detect the number of her attempts. UPSC is in the process of further strengthening its SOP, so that such cases do not happen again in future.
The Audi car on which Pooja used to move around during her posting, having a red-blue light and a Maharashtra government sticker, has a fine of Rs 26,000 pending on it.
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