Relieving her from its district training programme, the Maharashtra Government on Tuesday ordered controversial trainee Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Dr Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar —who is under scanner for alleged misuse of power and privileges — to return to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie.
Acting on a letter received from the LBSNAA which recalled Puja "for further action", the Maharashtra Government kept her district training programme on hold and directed her to join the academy on or before July 23.
"It is informed that the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie has decided to keep your district training programme on hold and immediately recall you for further necessary action. Therefore, you are hereby relieved from the district training programme of the State Government of Maharashtra…. You are instructed to join the academy at the earliest but not later than July 23, 2024 under any circumstances," Maharashtra's additional chief secretary (P) Nitin Gadre stated in a letter issued to Puja. Puja's recall to LBSNAA came on the heels of her transfer to Washim from Pune, amid allegations of manipulation of disability and OBC certificates for getting into the civil services.
The authenticity of various certificates submitted by her to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is being probed.
After having completed MBBS, Puja appeared for the civil services examination in 2021 and cleared the preliminary and main exams, and interview, securing the 821st rank.
Later the UPSC asked her to undergo a medical check-up at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Delhi to confirm her disability claim of suffering from "blindness and mental illness", an illness that gave her the benefits under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) category. However, she skipped call for a medical check-up on six occasions between April and August 2022.
Puja had earlier submitted two certificates, provided by the Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital in 2018 and 2021, to the UPSC under PwBD category. It has now emerged that she had applied for a disability certificate from the Aundh Government Hospital in Pune in August 2022, but after medical tests, her application was rejected.
Puja, who was initially posted as an assistant collector, hit headlines for wrong reasons following her alleged demand for a separate office and official car and unauthorised use of a beacon in her private car. So much so that Pune district collector Suhas Diwase also sent a report to the State Government about her and her father's "objectionable behaviour"
Puja was later transferred to Washim in eastern Maharashtra as supernumerary assistant collector.
