IAS Puja Khedkar's non-creamy OBC status and Persons with Benchmark Disability (PwBD) certificate are already under scrutiny.
Trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar has been in the news since last week for all the wrong reasons. A 2023-batch officer from Ahmednagar, IAS Khedkar is facing allegations of wrongly securing a position in the IAS under the OBC quota and visually impaired categories. She also allegedly abused her position recently following which she came under scanner. Reports suggest she lied about her mental and visual condition to secure an officer's post.
Now reports suggest IAS Puja had secured admission for MBBS using the OBC non-creamy layer quota, India Today reported quoting sources. She reportedly took admission to Pune's Kashibai Navale Medical College in 2007 for MBBS under the OBC Nomadic Tribe-3 category. She belongs to the same community which is reserved for the Vanjari community.
Arvind Bhore, the director of Kashibai Navale Medical College, said Khedkar took admission in 2007 through the CET. He claimed that the IAS officer Puja had submitted a medical fitness certificate which didn't mention any disability. “There was no mention of any disability, whether physical or mental, in the medical fitness certificate submitted by Puja Khedkar when she joined our college in 2007,” said Dr Arvind.
Her non-creamy OBC status and Persons with Benchmark Disability (PwBD) certificate are already under scrutiny. It was alleged that she skipped mandated medical tests multiple times while going through the selection process for an IAS post. She had refused six times to undergo a mandatory medical test to confirm her disabilities. However, in August 2022, she applied for a disability certificate from Pune but was shot down by doctors who examined her, NDTV reported.
"We regret to inform that... it is not possible to issue a disability certificate in your favour," she was told in a letter. Earlier, she reportedly tried to get a certificate from Ahmednagar. Despite not clearing the mandated medical test, it is unclear how she was appointed if she declined to appear for the examination.
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