Hitting back at UPSC, dismissed IAS officer Pooja Khedkar said that the educational body has no power to take action against her. In her reply in Delhi High Court on UPSC's allegations against her, Puja Khedkar said that once selected and appointed as a probationer, UPSC has no right to disqualify their candidature and maintained that she did not manipulate her name in UPSC or give any wrong information. The court granted time to Khedkar to respond to the stand of the UPSC as well as the Delhi Police.
The UPSC had opposed in the Delhi High Court an anticipatory bail plea by former IAS probationer and said she committed a fraud against the commission and the public. The Delhi Police also sought dismissal of the pre-arrest bail plea on the ground 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 reply filed in court, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) said Khedkar’s custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth the magnitude of the “fraud” that could not have been done without the help of other individuals. Therefore, her pre-arrest bail plea should be dismissed, it said. Khedkar allegedly misrepresented information in her application for the UPSC Civil Services Examination-2022 to get reservation benefits.
On July 31, the UPSC cancelled Khedkar's candidature and debarred her from future exams. The Delhi Police has registered an FIR under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Information Technology Act and Right of Persons with Disability Act.
