Delhi HC extends interim protection for Puja Khedkar till 5 September

The Delhi High Court on Thursday, 29 August extended till 5 September the interim protection from arrest granted to former IAS trainee Puja Khedkar, who has been accused of cheating and wrongly availing OBC and disability quota benefits.

Justice Subramonium Prasad deferred hearing on the anticipatory bail plea by Khedkar till then and granted liberty to the police to file a fresh status report in the meantime.

Both the UPSC and the Delhi Police have sought dismissal of her plea for pre-arrest bail.

In a rejoinder filed to the stand of the authorities, Khedkar has denied the allegations levelled against her and asserted that she has neither misrepresented nor cheated in the process of successfully clearing the Civil Services Examination-2022.

She also said the UPSC has no power to disqualify her candidature.

"(Her) selection (was) on the basis of merit in the category of Persons with Benchmark Disability (PwBD) and has attempted fifth time under the category whereas the available attempts are nine in the said category. The attempts given prior to this from 2012 to 2017 was not under this category and cannot be mixed up to disentitle applicant as a disabled candidate," the rejoinder said.

"As such pursuant to the selection and appointment as a probationer, the respondent no 2 (UPSC) ceases the power to disqualify the candidature and DOPT alone can take action under the All India services Act 1954 and the Probationer Rules therein as per Rule 19 of the CSE 2022 Rules," it added.

Khedkar further said it was wrong on the UPSC to claim that she misrepresented her name when the commission itself verified her identity through biometric data collected during the personality test and all documents were also verified.

"There has been no change in the applicant's first name and surname, from 2012 to 2022, as consistently reflected in all DAFs (detailed application forms). The applicant has not manipulated or misrepresented her name to UPSC," stated the rejoinder.

"The applicant herein on being recommended to DOPT, all necessary verification was undertaken and she was medically examined by the Medical Board constituted by AIIMS as per DOPT which found her disability up to 47 per cent and way beyond the requirement of 40 per cent for PwBD category.

"The applicant herein says and submits that none of the documents produced are forged, fabricated or created and are issued by the authorities competent to issue the same and the applicant has not misrepresented or cheated the respondent No 2," it added.

Khedkar said since all material is with UPSC and no document is required from her, she is entitled to pre-arrest bail.

Khedkar allegedly misrepresented information in her application for the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2022 to get reservation benefits.

On 31 July, the UPSC cancelled Khedkar's candidature and debarred her from future exams.

The UPSC earlier has said that Khedkar committed a fraud against the commission and the public, and her custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth the "magnitude of the fraud" that could not have been done without the help of other individuals.

The Delhi Police has claimed that any relief to her would hinder its probe into the "deep rooted conspiracy" and that the case has wider implications on public trust as well as the integrity of the civil services examination.

In its status report, the police has asserted that investigation has revealed that Khedkar was not entitled to benefits as an "OBC+Non-Creamy Layer" candidate but she hatched a conspiracy with other persons to get that benefit by showing that her parents are divorced.

The circumstances, however, suggest that Khedkar's parents were living together, and that she made a false declaration with respect to her previous number of attempts while writing the Civil Services Examination (CSE)-2021 under a changed name, the agency has said.

On 12 August, while issuing notice on the anticipatory bail plea, the court had granted Khedkar interim protection from arrest.

Last month, the UPSC had initiated a series of actions against Khedkar, including registration of criminal case against her for availing attempts in the civil services exam by faking identity.

The Delhi Police has registered an FIR under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Information Technology Act and Right of Persons with Disability Act.

On 1 August, a sessions court here had denied anticipatory bail to her and said there are serious allegations against her, which "require a thorough investigation".