Delhi High Court Seeks Puja Khedkar's Response On UPSC's Plea Alleging Perjury In Anticipatory Bail Case

The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice on a plea moved by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) alleging that former probationer IAS officer Puja Khedkar committed perjury by filing a false affidavit and making a false statement in relation to her anticipatory bail plea.

Justice Subramonium Prasad sought the response of Khedkar who is accused of “misrepresenting and falsifying facts" in her UPSC application.

The matter will now be heard on September 26.

On July 31, the UPSC cancelled Khedkar's candidature and debarred her permanently from all future examinations and selections of the Commission. She has been granted interim protection from arrest which continues to date.

In its application, UPSC has alleged that Khedkar, in her counter affidavit to the anticipatory bail plea, made a false statement that the Commission had collected her biometrics.

UPSC has rejected the claim arguing that the Commission did not collect any biometrics (eyes and fingerprints) during Khedkar's Personality Test.

The Commission has not collected any biometric information from any candidate during the Personality Test of the Civil Services Examinations held so far, UPSC has said.

The Commission has further alleged that Khedkar made the false statement with the sole aim and purpose of deceiving the Court for obtaining favorable orders.

Similar application was recently moved by UPSC in Khedkar's plea challenging cancellation of her candidature. A coordinate bench issued notice on the application and the matter is fixed for hearing in November.

In that case, Khedkar had claimed before the Court that she was not served with the official order by UPSC and had argued that she could not have been informed about cancellation of her candidature via press release after she was appointed as an IAS.

In its application, UPSC claimed that the July 31 communication was sent to Khedkar on her registered email ID the same day. However, she made a false statement in the Court that she was not served.

Khedkar joined the Pune Collectorate as part of her probationary training in June. The allegation against her is that she “misused” quotas under Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Persons With Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) to clear the CSE. An FIR was registered against Khedkar by UPSC in the matter. A show cause notice was also issued to her on cancellation of her selection. She has also been barred from future examinations.

As per a public statement given by UPSC, a detailed and thorough investigation into the “misdemeanour” of Khedkar, revealed that she “fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limit” under the Examination Rules by “faking her identity” by changing her name.

The statement also said that Khedkar changed the names of her father and mother as well as her photograph, signature, email address, mobile number and address.

Title: Puja Khedkar v. State