Puja Khedkar moves Delhi High Court against UPSC decision to cancel her IAS candidature

Former trainee Indian Administrative Service (AS) officer Puja Khedkar has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the decision of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to cancel her candidature. .Khedkar's plea is likely to be heard by the High Court on August 7, Wednesday. She is accused of fraudulently availing the reservation meant for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities to clear the UPSC exam.On July 31, the UPSC had issued a statement cancelling Khedkar's selection in the civil services. The Commission permanently debarred her from all future exams and selections. "The UPSC has examined the available records carefully 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 cancelled and she has also been debarred permanently from all the future Examinations/Selections of the UPSC," UPSC statement read. .Notably, the Delhi Police has booked her on a complaint filed by the UPSC.It is alleged that she "fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limit under the Examination Rules by faking her identity by way of changing her name, her father's & mother's name, her photograph/ signature, her email ID, mobile number and address.".Khedkar has been denied anticipatory bail by the trial court in the case. The court also ordered the Delhi Police to widen its probe and investigate whether any other persons would have availed benefits of quotas under OBC and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) without entitlement.Further, the Delhi Police has been ordered to find out if any UPSC officials helped Khedkar. .It is Khedkar's case that the allegations against her are false and she is being targeted for filing complaint of sexual harassment against her superior officials. She has further said that media is on a witch-hunt against her.