Mumbai: Amid growing bouquet of charges, controversial IAS Probationary Officer Dr Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar has been recalled to the Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA).
Dr Khedkar (34), who is under training in the Maharashtra-cadre, is currently posted in Washim after being transferred out from Pune.
In Washim, she is the Super Numerary Assistant Collector.
LBSNAA Deputy Director and In-Charge Establishment Shelesh Nawal has written to Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik seeking her recall to the training establishment.
Additional Chief Secretary Nitin Gadre, who heads the General Administration Department, issued a written order to Dr Khedkar informing her recall to LBSNAA.
"As per a letter of Deputy Director and In-Charge Establishment, dated 16 September, 2024, it is informed that LBSNAA, Mussoorie, has decided to keep your District Training Programme on hold and immediately recall you for further action. Therefore, you are hereby relieved from the District Training Programme of State Government of Maharashtra," Dr Gadre stated in the brief one-page letter.
She was also instructed to join LBSNAA at the earliest but not later than 23 July, 2024.
There has not any comments so far from Dr Khedkar, whose father is a former bureaucrat and mother a sarpanch.
However, before the order was issued, she slammed what she described as fake news and media trial.
The family hails form Ahmednagar-Pune belt.
Dr Khedkar face more than half a dozen charges and allegations.
Dr Khedkar, who had secured an All India Rank 821 in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination in 2022.
Puja got through the IAS under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) as she declared herself from the non-creamy layer and persons with benchmark disabilities (PwBD) categories reportedly citing her visual and mental disabilities.
Dr Khedkar is MBBS from Pune and specialises as an endocrinologist, according to reports.
The Prime Minister’s Officer (PMO) and the Maharashtra government has taken serious cognizance about the offences and her conduct.
The Centre has constituted a single-member Committee, chaired by a senior officer of the rank of Additional Secretary to Government of India to verify the candidature claims and other details of Dr Khedkar, a candidate of Civil Services Examination-2022 and earlier CSEs. The committee would submit a report in two weeks time.
The LBSNAA, which trains the IAS officers, too had sought a report from the Maharashtra government.
Dr Khedkar had not undergone tests in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to prove her PwBD status.
The UPSC had challenged the selection of Dr Khedkar in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which had ruled against her. However, she still was inducted. Besides, she does not qualify in the non-creamy layer OBC category as the applicant's parents' annual income is more than the stipulated Rs. 8 lakh.
Pune’s District Collector Dr Suhas Diwase flagged the issue about her conduct and informed the government following and expose.
Dr Khedkar had demanded a designated cabin with attached washroom, a car, residential quarters, and a peon for herself - which is generally not given to POs.
She was also found using Additional Collector Ajay More's office while he was away on leave.
Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar has ordered a probe against Dr Khedkar for the alleged use of blue and red beacon light and putting up a 'Maharashtra Government' insignia on a private car, an Audi with a VIP registration number.
Dr Khedkar's father Dilip Khedkar is a former officer and had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Ahmednagar as a candidate of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and in affidavit he has declared family assets to the tune of Rs 40 crore.
Dr Khedkar’s mother Manorama Khedkar is a Sarpanch of Bhalgaon village in Pathardi tehsil of Ahmednagar. Khedkar’s maternal grandfather, Jagganath Budhavant, was also an IAS officer.
Reports have also surfaced that allegedly forced Navi Mumbai's Deputy Police Commissioner Vivek Pansare to release a thief, a transporter, who was arrested by Panvel police. However, it could not be independently confirmed.
There were also 21 traffic violation challans against her besides the issue of beacon light.