The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has issued a statement regarding Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, a provisionally recommended candidate for the Civil Services Examination 2022 (CSE-2022). On July 18, 2024, an official Show Cause Notice (SCN) was issued to Ms. Khedkar for allegedly exceeding the permissible attempt limit by falsifying her identity. Ms. Khedkar was initially required to respond by July 25, 2024, but requested an extension to August 4, 2024, to gather the necessary documents.
The UPSC carefully considered the request of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar and in order to meet the ends of justice, she was granted time until 3:30 pm on July 30, 2024 so as to enable her to submit the response to the SCN. It was also categorically made clear to Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar that it was her last and final opportunity, and no further extension in time would be allowed. It was also conveyed to her in unequivocal terms that if no response was received by the aforesaid date/time, the UPSC would take further action without entertaining any further reference from her. Despite the extension in time allowed to her, she failed to submit her explanation within the prescribed time.
The UPSC has further examined the available records carefully and found her guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of the CSE-2022 Rules. Her provisional candidature for the CSE-2022 has been cancelled and she has also been barred permanently from all future examinations and selections of the UPSC.
In the backdrop of the case of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, the UPSC has thoroughly examined the available data of more than 15,000 finally recommended candidates of the CSEs from 2009 to 2023, i.e., for 15 years, with respect to the number of attempts availed by them. After this detailed exercise, barring the case of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, no other candidate has been found to have availed more number of attempts than permitted under the CSE Rules. In the lone case of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the UPSC could not detect her number of attempts, primarily due to the fact that she changed not only her name but also her parents’ name. The UPSC is in the process of further strengthening the SOP to ensure that such a case does not recur in the future.
So far as the complaints regarding the submission of false certificates (specifically OBC & PwBD categories) are concerned, the UPSC wishes to clarify that it does only a preliminary scrutiny of the certificates viz. whether the certificate has been issued by the competent authority, the year to which the certificate pertains, issuing date of the certificate, whether there is any overwriting on the certificate, format of the certificate, etc. Generally, the certificate is taken as genuine, if it has been issued by a competent authority. The UPSC neither has the mandate nor the wherewithal to check the veracity of thousands of certificates submitted by candidates every year. However, it is understood that scrutiny and verification of genuineness of certificates are carried out by the authorities mandated with the task.
