Puja Khedkar, a 2023-batch IAS officer, is at the center of a row in Pune and the state over her transfer after she sparked controversy with demands such as a separate cabin and staff. She is now in more trouble as her Disability and OBC Creamy Layer Certificates are also under scrutiny.
A mock interview clip has gone viral on social media, wherein the panel asked why she has shown her father's income as zero, to which she replied that they have separated. She also informs the panel that her father is a retired Maharashtra government servant.
It should be noted that creamy layer certificate limitation is an annual parental income of Rs 8 lakh.
However, an election affidavit of her father has also gone viral on X. Her father, Dilip Khedkar, who was a state government officer, had amassed wealth over Rs 40 crore, as per the election affidavit. After retiring from state government service, he contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi candidate from the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency.
Category changed in 2023
In 2021, she was selected as Assistant Director in the Sports Authority in the OBC PwBD 1 category, but in 2023, she changed her category from PwBD 1 to PwBD 5 and got selected as an IAS officer.
Transferred to Washim
Now, Khedkar has been transferred to Washim district of central Maharashtra before the completion of her training.
Puja Khedkar, a 2023-batch IAS officer, has been transferred to Washim to complete the remaining term of her training, and she will serve there as a "supernumerary assistant collector" till July 30, 2025, said the official letter.
She demanded separate cabin, car, residential quarters, and a peon
As per a report submitted by Pune collector Suhas Diwse to the General Administration Department, even before joining duty on June 3, Khedkar repeatedly demanded that she be provided a separate cabin, car, residential quarters, and a peon.
She was told that she was not entitled to these facilities on probation and that accommodation would be provided to her.
Diwse, in his report to the GAD, said it was not appropriate to allow Khedkar to continue her training in Pune.
She was also accused of removing the nameplate of a senior official at the Pune collector's office when he allowed her to use his ante-chamber as her office.
