The father of IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who faces allegations of using fake disability and OBC certificates to clear the civil services exam, defended her actions on Sunday, asserting she had not done anything illegal and was facing undue harassment. He emphasized that asking for a place to sit in the office is not wrong.
Puja recently became the center of media attention after controversies surrounding her alleged demands for a separate cabin and staff during her Pune posting and her abrupt transfer to Washim district. Further allegations surfaced accusing her of securing an IAS position by using OBC and visually impaired categories, along with submitting a mental illness certificate.
Puja Khedkar, a probationary IAS officer from the 2022 batch, has been at the center of a controversy in Pune, leading to her abrupt transfer to Washim district in central Maharashtra. She was posted as an assistant collector in Pune.She secured an All India Rank of 821 under the Physical Disability (PWD-5) category in the UPSC exams.
The controversy started after she was making VIP demands, including the use of her private Audi car fitted with a red-blue beacon light and VIP number plate, along with a ‘Maharashtra government’ board affixed to the vehicle.
Her father, Dilip Khedkar, a former Maharashtra government employee, contested the allegations, stating she indeed belongs to the non-creamy layer. Despite declaring property worth Rs 40 crore in his election affidavit, he clarified that creamy-layer classification depends on income, not property valuation. He also defended her use of a private luxury car for official work, claiming it was done with proper permission due to the unavailability of a government vehicle.
The police confiscated the Audi car on Sunday. Dilip explained that she used the car, belonging to a relative, with the necessary permissions and did not misuse her power. Regarding the removal of a senior official’s nameplate at the Pune collector’s office, he asserted she had permission to use the cabin.
Dilip also addressed allegations of misuse of disability certificates, stating that Puja meets the government-established disability criteria and had missed some medical check-ups due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2022, she was asked to report to AIIMS, Delhi for verification of her disability certificate but cited COVID infection for not doing so.
The Centre has formed a single-member committee to re-examine Puja’s documents submitted for her civil services examination and IAS selection. The 2023 batch IAS officer, currently under probation, is posted in her home cadre, Maharashtra.
Dilip also defended his wife Manorama, seen in an old video allegedly threatening people with a gun over a land dispute. He explained that she had a licence for the gun and was defending herself after being threatened.
