Maha IAS-PO Puja Khedkar relieved of field training, recalled to Mussoorie academy

Mumbai, July 16 (IANS) In a significant development, the controversial Maharashtra IAS-Probationary Officer and Washim Assistant Collector, Dr. Puja Khedkar, has been taken off field training with immediate effect and ordered to report to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, an official said here on Tuesday.

The strong move follows a report submitted by the Maharashtra government to the LBSNAA on her alleged behaviour on various counts following many complaints pertaining to her certificates, documents, medical and other papers, plus making demands she was not entitled to as an IAS-PO.

The LBSNAA Deputy Director, Shelesh Nawal, asked the state government to relieve the PO from her duties immediately and advise her to report to the Mussoorie academy by July 23.

Amid the series of exposures on various aspects surrounding the IAS-PO, state Additional Chief Secretary Nitin Gadre sent a letter to Puja Khedkar on Tuesday, who is designated as ‘Super Numerary Assistant Collector, Washim’.

He cited the letter of the LBSNAA which has decided to keep her District Training Program on hold and immediately recall her (to Mussoorie) for ‘further necessary action’.

“Therefore, you are hereby relieved from District Training Program of State Government of Maharashtra. You are instructed to join the Academy (LBSNAA) at the earliest but not later than 23rd July, 2024 under any circumstances,” said the terse communication.

In its letter earlier in the day, the LBSNAA took cognisance of the state government’s communication of July 11 regarding the conduct of Dr. Puja Khedkar during her District Training Program in Pune before she was transferred to Washim, where she joined on July 11.

“It has been decided that the District Training Program of the probationer Ms. Puja Khedkar, IAS 2023 be kept on hold and she should be immediately recalled at the Academy for further necessary action,” said the LBSNAA’s Nawal.

He further requested the state government to relieve Dr. Puja Khedkar from her duties promptly and advise her to join the LBSNAA by July 23.

The moves came soon after the Washim Police grilled Dr. Puja Khedkar purportedly on the multiple accusations levelled against her following the RTI revelations by a Pune activist Vinod Kumbhar.

Barely five days ago the Centre set up a one-man committee of Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training Manoj Dwivedi to enquire into the charges against the IAS-PO, and is likely to submit the probe report within a fortnight.

Among various things, she is accused of allegedly submitted doubtful/false documents/certificates pertaining to her caste status, mental illness and visual impairment, making demands like a beacon for her private Audi-A4 car (later impounded), affixing a sticker of ‘Maharashtra Government’, grabbing an office of a senior officer at the Pune Collectorate, etc. which were beyond her entitlements as a IAS-PO.

Simultaneously, her family members also came under the radar after different allegations and complaints, with the Pune Police lodging a complaint against her mother, Manorama D. Khedkar for allegedly threatening farmers with a pistol in a bid to grab their lands last year and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) sending a notice for illegal constructions inside/outside her Pune home.

Her father, Dilip K. Khedkar, a retired state government employee - who contested the last Lok Sabha (2024) elections on a Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi ticket - is also under a cloud for allegedly amassing huge wealth, prompting the VBA President Prakash Ambedkar to promise action against him.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)

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