Controversial IAS trainee Puja Khedkar breaks silence over disability certificate row | Read In Detail
PTC Web Desk: Puja Khedkar, trainee Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer facing allegations of misusing the Other Backward Class (OBC) quota and disability provisions to secure her civil service position, has finally broken her silence. On all the allegations against her, including the disability certificate row, she has stated that "the truth will prevail as she prepares to make her submission before the central committee investigating the charges".
In a statement, trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar on Monday expressed her commitment to cooperating with the investigation. “I will testify before the committee, and I believe the decision made by the committee should be acceptable to everyone,” she was reported as saying by mediapersons. “As a probationary officer, my role is to work and learn, and that is what I am focused on. I am not in a position to comment further on the ongoing investigation,” she added.
Puja Khedkar has been the centre of intense media scrutiny following a series of controversies. Reports emerged alleging that Puja Khedkar, the daughter of a retired bureaucrat, had misused the OBC quota and the Persons with Benchmark Disability (PwBD) provisions to gain entry into the civil service. Additional concerns were raised about her non-creamy layer certificate, given her father Dilip Khedkar’s substantial assets, which he declared in his Lok Sabha election affidavit, showing a property worth Rs 40 crore.
The Centre has appointed a single-member committee to review the documents Puja Khedkar submitted for her civil services examination and IAS selection process. “The committee of experts appointed by the government will make the decision. It is not for the media or the public to decide,” she said.
- With inputs from agencies
