News18
Sacked IAS trainee Puja Khedkar faces perjury charges levelled against her by the UPSC. (File image: News18)
Perjury proceedings have been initiated against Puja Khedkar for submitting false documents, UPSC said.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court against disqualified IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, accusing her of perjury and attempting to manipulate judicial system.
The UPSC claimed that Khedkar filed false documents to gain favourable outcomes in her case.
The Delhi High Court on September 12 sought former probationary Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar’s response on a plea by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) seeking initiation of perjury proceedings against her for allegedly giving false statement and affidavit in the court.
Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to Khedkar on the UPSC’s application and granted her three weeks to file reply to it.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on November 26.
The UPSC contended that the July 31 communication by which Khedkar’s candidature was cancelled was communicated to her on her registered email id the same day. It said it was the same email id, which was registered in her online application for the Civil Service Program (CSP) 2022.
Khedkar had earlier approached the high court challenging the UPSC’s press release stating that her candidature has been cancelled.
She had claimed that the cancellation order was never communicated to her and she came to know about it only through the press release.
The court had disposed of the petition after noting the UPSC’s submission that it will communicate within two days its order cancelling her candidature.
On July 31, the UPSC cancelled Khedkar’s candidature and debarred her from future exams.
She was accused of ‘misrepresenting information’ in her application for the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2022. Khedkar was also accused of cheating and wrongly availing of OBC and disability quota benefits.
On August 1, a trial court here had denied her anticipatory bail, saying these are serious allegations that “require a thorough investigation”.
(with inputs from PTI)
