Fake Files Fraud | Puja Khedkar Had No Disability, Used OBC Quota For Admission: College Director

Pune: Fresh reports now suggest that controversial probationary IAS officer Pooja Khedkar allegedly secured admission at Pune's Kashibai Navale Medical College in 2007 for MBBS through the college's entrance examination and not the Common Entrance Test (CET) score and also lacked any sort of disability. 

Khedkar was accused of misusing her caste certificate to secure admission using the Other Backward Class (OBC) non-creamy later quota and securing admission under the Nomadic Tribe-3 category reserved for the Vanjari community. 

It was earlier reported that Khedkar was admitted to the private college after scoring 146/200 marks in the college's entrance examination and not through her CET score.

A 2023-batch officer from Ahmednagar, Khedkar allegedly lied about her mental and visual condition to secure an officer's post despite an unimpressive score in the Civil Services Exam. 

However, Arvind Bhore, the Director of the college claimed that Khedkar took admission in 2007 through the CET and that she had submitted a medical fitness certificate, which didn't mention any disability. 

Bhore told ANI, “She had submitted the caste certificate, caste validity and non-creamy layer certificate... She also submitted the certificate of medical fitness, which does not mention any disability there."

"Not Possible to Issue Disability Certificate..."

Khedkar, in August 2022, had applied for a disability certificate from Pune. However, doctors turned her down, saying they couldn't issue her a disability certificate.

Khedkar, in the same letter, was told, “Please refer to your application dated 23/08/2022 for issue (of) disability certificate for following disability: Locomotor Disability (which can refer to cerebral palsy or a condition affecting bones or muscles that could restrict movement of the legs or arms)...”

"... you have been examined by the undersigned / Medical Board on 11/10/2022 and I / We regret to inform that... it is not possible to issue a disability certificate in your favour," read the letter.

Khedkar's Father Jumps In Defence

Khedkar's father Dilip defended her by saying that she hadn’t done anything illegal and even told a Marathi news channel that she indeed belonged to the non-creamy layer category.

He said that even if a person with limited means owned four to five acres of land, the valuation might show that he was worth several crores.

Dilip said, "However, the classification as creamy-layer depends on income rather than (property) valuation,” Dilip said.

My Daughter Meets Disability Criteria, Claims Father

On the allegations of misusing disability certificates, Dilip said the government has established a benchmark to determine a person's disability, and his daughter met the criteria. He added, "Many disabilities are not visible but are identified through medical tests. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she missed some check-ups."

Khedkar Failed To Report For Verification

An official said that Puja, in April 2022, was asked to report at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi for the verification of her disability certificate but she did not do so, citing COVID-19 infection.  

Centre Constitutes Single-Member Panel

The Centre constituted a single-member committee to re-examine the documents submitted by Puja to secure her candidature in the civil services examination and eventually for the selection of IAS.

(with PTI inputs)