Puja Khedkar’s couldn’t be an isolated case
Updated On: 22 July, 2024 04:38 AM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra Jore
Trust in UPSC is breached; the commission must go beyond ‘accidental findings’ to dig out more such frauds and cleanse recruitment in elite civil services
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Puja Khedkar, IAS probationer
IAS probationer Puja Khedkar’s alleged misdeeds were exposed only because she and her parents did not lay silent after she was appointed in the elite service. What would have been her case if she had conducted herself normally as others? What if her babu-turned-politician father Dilip hadn’t declared his/family’s income in an election affidavit? It was her and family’s misdemeanours that led some people in the civil society and ‘under public pressure’ administration to dig out more. The row had national ramifications and duly raised questions over the functioning of the Union Public Service Commission; the misuse of certain quotas in jobs and education was found; the authorities that issue certificates that qualify one to avail of such quotas were exposed; it strongly advocated a fool-proof verification against forgery/misuse at the entry level itself.
Several abnormalities came to the fore regarding Khedkar’s case. Against norms, she was posted in her home district (Pune, her address submission has been disputed), raising an accusation of being favoured by the powerful. As public and media uproar intensified, the UPSC and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had to act. The commission conducted an inquiry, filed an FIR against the trainee, and also patted itself for “ensuring the sanctity and integrity of all its examination processes with the utmost fairness and strict observance of rules”.
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