UPSC cancels provisional candidature of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar and permanently debars her from all the future Exams/Selections

Newdelhi:31/7/24:A Show Cause Notice (SCN) was issued by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, a provisionally recommended candidate of the Civil Services Examination-2022 (CSE-2022) on 18^th July 2024 for fraudulently availing attempts beyond the permissible limit provided for in the Examination Rules by faking her identity. She was to submit her response to the SCN by 25^th July 2024. However, she requested further time till 04^th August 2024 so that she could gather the necessary documents for her response.

2. The UPSC carefully considered the request of Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar and to meet the ends of justice, she was granted time till 3:30 pm on 30^th July 2024 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 the last and final opportunity for her 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 an extension in time allowed to her, she failed to submit her explanation within the prescribed time.

3. The UPSC has scrutinized the available records 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 canceled and she has also been debarred permanently from all future Examinations/Selections of the UPSC.

4.  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 the year 2009 to 2023 i.e. for 15 years concerning 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 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 because she changed her name and her parent’s name. The UPSC is further strengthening the SOP to ensure that such a case does not recur in the future.

5. 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 the competent authority. The UPSC neither has the mandate nor the wherewithal to check the veracity of thousands of certificates submitted by the candidates every year. However, it is understood that scrutiny and verification of the genuineness of certificates is carried out by the authorities’ mandate with the task.