A month after the Union Public Service Commission cancelled former trainee IAS officer Pooja Khedkar’s candidature for Civil Services Examination held in 2022, following allegations of forgery and misconduct, the government discharged her from the service finding her ‘ineligible’ as an examinee for the elite service.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issued an order on September 6 formally discharging Puja Khedkar from the IAS with
immediate effect. According to a DoPT source, the action was taken under Rule 12 of IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954 — which provides for the discharge of a probationer found to be ineligible — with immediate effect.
She was found guilty of hiding her real identity by changing her name from Puja Diliprao Khedkar to Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar to appear for the examination beyond the maximum number of attempts allowed. Not only this, she went on to change the names of her parents as well in order to corroborate her fraudulently changed identity.
