When privilege becomes the norm, equality can seem oppressive. This, in a nutshell, captures the essence of the controversial Indian Administrative Service (IAS) probationary officer Puja Khedkar, whose maiden posting in the Pune district collectorate has metamorphosed into a controversy, that apparently has also opened a Pandora’s box of similar violations which have been suppressed until now.
Ironically, Ms Khedkar’s stunning entry into the Pune collector’s office on her first day of work, using someone else’s super luxury Audi car, and capping it with a red and blue beacon (posing as a VIP officer), spilled the beans of her credibility and generated suspicion. The photograph was promptly posted on social media including X (previously Twitter) about an IAS officer on internship, driving in ostentatiously. Soon, news of the collector of Pune, Dr Suhas Diwase, sending an official complaint to the state government also hit the newspapers and TV channels.
This caught the attention of RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar, who then decided to investigate. Mr Kumbhar says, “I was very sure it was a scandal because it is unheard of any junior using a luxurious car; has the audacity to put the red-blue beacon and; gets her first posting in her home town Pune which also is unconventional.”
He first checked out the Union public service commission (UPSC) website as the details of a candidate’s certificates of disability are public information. The UPSC website
upsc.gov.in had, indeed, uploaded her multi-disability certificate.
However, it was the
https://affidavit.eci.gov.in/ website, where assets of political candidates are uploaded, that exposed the lie. Activist Kumbhar found the declaration much away from what Ms Khedkar had claimed in her UPSC application form as being below Rs8 lakh per annum to apply under the non-creamy layer in the OBC category. Her father Dilip Khedkar, a former officer in the Maharashtra pollution control board (MPCB), had contested the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Ahmednagar.
Mr Kumbhar took to X and posted: “Puja Khedkar became an IAS officer from the other backward category (OBC)-non-creamy layer category. Her father’s election affidavit shows his income and wealth as Rs40 crore. How can such income fall into the non-creamy layer? She has admitted being mentally ill and a person with multiple disabilities; however, she skipped medical examinations several times. How did she qualify for IAS? These are big questions.”
Despite Ms Khedkar being unfit for getting into the IAS cadre considering all the lies; more potent is the Pune collector’s office which she and her family used, to carve out a special status for her. If one thought the UPSC competitive examination is based purely on merit, this Khedkar family tells it loud and clear that hey, if the aspirant’s father is in government service and is privileged enough to have the right contacts and garner a lot of wealth (beyond the means of his salary) an IAS job for the progeny is a fairy-tale journey.
Fairy-tale because, unlike a junior officer working quietly from an ordinary table and chair in an ordinary cabin, Ms Khedkar had the courage to scoop out half of the cabin of a senior officer for herself and get it refurbished. She also removed his board and replaced it with hers. Instructions were given by her father (never mind if it is none of his business) to make all these changes for his pampered daughter to the extent of even suggesting a change in the sanitary ware of the washroom. A simple question: Have government offices become private entities of the corrupt who, in turn, become privileged?
What’s appalling is that Ms Khedkar’s first posting as a probationary officer was Bhandara but apparently her father used all his ‘influence’ (who are these people in power?) to ensure that his laadli gets a home posting.
Mr Kumbhar also located, in the department of empowerment of persons with disabilities, that trainee IAS officer Khedkar provided false information to the UPSC during the exam. She claimed she didn’t have an earlier disability certificate and said her current disability was from an accident at YCM Hospital Pimpri-Chinchwad. How did she benefit from this in the UPSC exam, as only a disability certificate from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is valid?
The complete silence of the Maharashtra state government, the UPSC board and the DoPT is appalling. In a meek step, Ms Khedkar was simply posted out to Washim where there was no vacancy but she was accommodated to be away from the media glare.
More stunning is the demeanour of Ms Khedkar when confronted by the media. With a calm disposition, she said she could not talk as per government rules and that she is innocent until proven guilty. In addition, her father has now brought out the gender issue. He allegedly threatened officers that his daughter is a woman IAS officer and she should be treated well.
However, despite the Khedkar family trying to show its upper hand and the state government turning a Nelson’s eye, the social media storm has had its effect at the centre. The Union government appointed a one-man committee and, finally, UPSC has recalled her.
Activist Kumbhar tweets on 16th July: “Puja Khedkar’s training on hold. Due to her conduct during district training at Pune, she is being recalled to the LBSNAA Academy for further action. The state government is requested to relieve her immediately and ensure she goes to the academy by 23 July 2024.”
While 1.3mn (million) students appeared for the prestigious and much sought-after UPSC examination in 2023 and many went disheartened despite their toil; Ms Khedkar gets the cream. What injustice!
(Vinita Deshmukh is consulting editor of Moneylife. She is also the convener of the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyaan. She is the recipient of prestigious awards like the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting, which she won twice in 1998 and 2005 and the Chameli Devi Jain Award for outstanding media person for her investigation series on Dow Chemicals. She co-authored the book "To The Last Bullet - The Inspiring Story of A Braveheart - Ashok Kamte" with Vinita Kamte and is the author of "The Mighty Fall".)
