Former IAS probationer Puja Khedkar on August 30 told the Delhi High Court that it should not consider 7 of the 12 attempts she took for clearing the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) examination.
Khedkar, whose candidature was cancelled by the UPSC in July, has been accused of cheating and wrongly availing OBC and disability quota benefits.
She claims that a Maharashtra hospital had issued a certificate diagnosing her with an old ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) tear with left knee instability. Therefore, she has urged the court to only consider the attempts made in the 'Divyang' category. Puja Khedkar has claimed a 47 percent disability, more than the 40 percent required for the category as per the government benchmark.
The former IAS probationer, through an affidavit filed earlier today, requested the court that 7 of the attempts (made as a general category student) be disregarded. If her request is accepted, it will reduce the number of Khedkar's confirmed attempts to 5. The number of attempts will then be 4 less than the upper limit for persons with disabilities.
Challenging her disqualification, the former IAS trainee officer on August 29 said the UPSC has no power to act against her.
In a rejoinder filed to the stand of the authorities, Khedkar has denied the allegations levelled against her and asserted that she has neither misrepresented nor cheated in the process of successfully clearing the Civil Services Examination-2022.
"(Her) selection (was) on the basis of merit in the category of Persons with Benchmark Disability (PwBD) and has attempted fifth time under the category whereas the available attempts are nine in the said category. The attempts given prior to this from 2012 to 2017 was not under this category and cannot be mixed up to disentitle applicant as a disabled candidate," the rejoinder said.
She added that it was wrong on the part of UPSC to claim that she misrepresented her name when the Commission itself verified her identity through biometric data collected during the personality test and all documents were also verified.
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