New Delhi, Sep 07, 2024, TRIPURATIMES Desk

New Delhi, Sep 7: The Centre has discharged 2023 batch IAS Probationer Puja Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service with immediate effect.

The government issued an order in this regard under the IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954 on Friday.

An IAS officer is "dismissed" from service while a probationer is "discharged".

Official sources say the rules allow the central government to discharge probationers from service if they fail to pass the re-examination or if the central government is satisfied that the probationer was ineligible for for recruitment to the Service or is unsuitable for being a member of the Service among others.

Khedkar was found guilty of cheating and wrongly availing Other Backward Classes (OBC) and disability quota benefits and fraudulently clearing the civil services examination held by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

After cancelling her selection, the UPSC had barred her from taking the entrance exam for life. The UPSC found her guilty of forging her identity to take the exam multiple times.

In a related development, Khedkar on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that she was willing to get herself medically examined at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), after the city police claimed that one of her disability certificates may be "forged" and "fabricated".

She made the submission before the court which is dealing with her anticipatory bail plea in the criminal case registered by the Delhi Police on the UPSC's complaint.