NEW DELHI: UPSC and DoPT must answer how she was put on the list despite the February 2023 CAT order.
On 23 February 2023, the Mumbai bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), ordered that the candidature and selection of the 33-year-old Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar for Civil Services Examination 2021 was liable to be cancelled because she did not appear for the medical examination that is mandatory for joining the All India Services.
The two-judge bench comprising Justice M.G. Sewlikar and Bhagwan Sahai gave this order while hearing an application that was filed by Khedkar, who has mentioned herself as working as “Assistant Director, Sports Authority of India”.
Khedkar, in her application, while impleading Union of India, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Personnel and the Union Public Services Commission had sought reservation for herself under Section 34 (d) of the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 which says that the appropriate government may, by notification, provide for such relaxation of upper age limit for employment of persons with benchmark disability, as it thinks fit.
Khedkar in her application claimed that she had appeared for the preliminary papers of the CSE 2021 during which she noticed that no reservation was provided to people with disability defined under Section 34 (D) and approached CAT to order the government to provide the said reservation as she was suffering from mental illness and blindness which are covered under the said Act.
Before approaching CAT, Khedkar had approached the Mumbai High Court in 2021 with the same demands, which permitted her to appear for the prelims. After which she cleared the prelims, mains and the interview and was recommended by the UPSC to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for recruitment into the All India Services. She was selected by availing benefits available under two categories—Other Backward Class (non-creamy layer) and MD (multiple disability).
Following the recommendation by the UPSC, she was asked to come to Delhi for the mandatory medical examination for which she had availed the reservation by the Union of India (UoI), which was scheduled for 22 April 2022 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
However, as per the submission made by the UoI, in front of the CAT Mumbai bench, she told the DoPT that she had contracted Covid and her personality test and medical test should be postponed. Accordingly, it was then postponed for 26 and 27 May respectively and she was asked to appear at the Safdarjung hospital at the said date.
The said examination was again rescheduled, this time on 1 July 2022 and the venue was changed to AIIMS. She did not appear for her examination once again. After which it was rescheduled for 26 August at the same hospital.
By this time period she had refused to appear on three different dates for her examination.
She finally appeared for her medical examination on the fourth instance which started on 26 August and was supposed to go on till 2 September at AIIMS Delhi. On the day she was supposed to undergo an MRI of her brain by a neuro-ophthalmologist in order to know the cause for the loss of vision, she did not appear for the test despite repeated attempts by the duty officer to reach out to her. The test was important to know and record the percentage of visual disability. As a result her extent of blindness could not be assessed.
On 25 November 2022, she wrote to the Additional Secretary, DoPT stating that as she suffers from claustrophobia she could not take the MRI test.
The CAT, in its order, quoted Regulations 4(3) stated that Puja’s candidature was liable to be cancelled.
As per CSE regulations regarding medical examination, “the prescribed medical examination is an essential part of the civil services examination process and is therefore mandatory”.
“The rules further state that no candidate shall be appointed in any Service through Civil Services Examination without completing Medical Examination. The onus to cooperate fully with and to desist from non-appearance on scheduled dates or leaving incomplete the Medical Examination or malingering etc. during the entire process of Medical Examination shall be upon the candidates. Failure for any reason whatsoever on part of candidates to complete the Medical Examination/s as per the specified details or within the time-limit as may be prescribed by the Government or the appointing authority or as per the advice of the Expert Panel(s) or Medical Board(s), as the case may be, shall render such candidates liable for cancellation of their candidature at the Civil Services Examination and no extra opportunities for completion of the prescribed Medical Examination/s shall be provided in any case.”
According to rules, “Medical Examination of the candidates (other than PwBD category candidates) would be conducted in New Delhi in designated hospitals viz. Safdarjung Hospital, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, Sucheta Kriplani Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, B. R. Ambedkar Hospital, Guru Nanak Eye Centre, AIIMS, New Delhi and Army Hospital (Research & Referral), Delhi. The date and venue of the Medical Examination shall be communicated by the UPSC on the date of Interview/Personality Test to the respective candidates based on the decision of the Government of India in this regard, which shall be final.”
Similarly, “The general Medical Examination of the Person with Benchmark Disability (PwBD) category candidates (to which Puja belonged) would be scheduled only at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. However, the Benchmark Disability for PwBD category candidates would be tested for confirmation by a Benchmark Disability Expert Panel (BDEP) constituted at AIIMS, New Delhi. The BDEP, AIIMS, New Delhi shall, after due examination, furnish in every case a Report clearly certifying the percentage of Benchmark Disability or any other finding. The Central Standing Medical Board (CSMB) will give its recommendation on the basis of the report of the general Medical Examination and the report of the BDEP, AIIMS, New Delhi.”
According to DoPT, “Under no circumstances, any request for rescheduling of Medical Examination would be considered. Therefore, the candidates are requested in their own interest, to get their Medical Examination completed as per the schedule communicated to them. Candidates are informed that their presence may be required for a period of 4-5 days in case any investigation/hospitalization is considered necessary by the CSMB/Hospital. All candidates are directed to keep themselves available till completion of their Medical Examination and plan their travelling, boarding, lodging accordingly. The candidate should leave the Medical Examination only after obtaining a relieving letter in the prescribed format to be issued by the Chairman, CSMB or an authorized representative and to submit it to UPSC in original without fail and is also required to keep this in possession as a proof of completing the Medical Examination. The onus of appearing and fully cooperating in the Medical Examination process till its completion lies solely with the candidate. Failure to complete the Medical Examination process within the time schedule prescribed would render a candidate liable for cancellation of candidature.”
Earlier, on 30 May 2022 UPSC had declared the final result of the civil services examination 2021 in which initially the names of 685 candidates were on the list. Puja was on serial number 679.
Post this order, the DoPT released its first iteration list of 784 candidates on 22 July 2022 regarding allocation of All India services to the recommended candidate. The name of Puja was not on the list.
However, in the second iteration list consisting of 796 candidates and 930 rankers, that was released on 26 July 2022, Puja’s name was there at 711 serial number and 821 rank where she was allotted IAS under the OBC and MD category.
The Rank-Wise Post List for the Civil Service Exam is released by DoPT in various iterations. The iterations are needed because some of the selected candidates are allocated to the same service to which they are serving. As a result, they do not join the same service and do not report for joining. In other cases, the selected candidates might not join the services or may not move from one service to another and hence the UPSC reserve list comes into play and the Commission recommends more candidates from the reserve list. This leads to multiple lists till the last vacancy is filled.
How she was put on the list despite the February 2023 CAT order is something that only UPSC and the DoPT can answer.
The Sunday Guardian reached out the UPSC chairman, Dr Manoj Soni and secretary UPSC, Shashi Ranjan Kumar, a 1992 batch IAS officer of Tripura cadre on Thursday noon seeking a response on this entire matter and specifically the details about her mandatory medical examination that should have been done before awarding her IAS. No response was received till the time of the story going to print.
Sources who have interacted with Puja, whose selection has put a question mark on the entire verification system that UPSC uses, said that she showed no sign of any “mental illness” or “loss of vision” during their interactions.
On Thursday night, the DoPT, which is the controlling authority of the All India Services, announced that the Central Government has constituted a single-member Committee, chaired by a senior officer of the rank of Additional Secretary to Government of India to verify the candidature claims and other details of Puja Manorma Dilip Khedkar. The Committee has been asked to submit its report in two weeks.
Puja had availed reservation under PwBD-5 category which translates to Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) that is divided into five categories. She was selected under Multiple Disabilities (Category 5) from amongst persons under Clauses (1) to (4) including deaf, blindness, hard of hearing (c) Locomotor disability and (d) Autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Puja’s father Dilip Khedkar, said that no wrong was committed by her and all due process that she was required to follow as per DoPT and UPSC, she had followed, including the medical examinations which she had undergone after which she was allowed to join the services. He further said that the union government has appointed a committee to get into all doubts and the committee will do its job.
Responding to queries on how she was selected when the February 2023 CAT order had specifically said she was not liable to be selected, Dilip Khedkar said, “Whatever information submitted is incomplete. The medical examination was carried out by the medical board”.
Interestingly, on 15 March 2023 the CAT Mumbai bench delivered another order on a separate but related application that was filed by Puja the same year. In that application, she had asked the CAT to direct the Union of India, UPSC and DoPT that she should be considered eligible for reservation under Section 34 (E) as provided under Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 as she suffers from multiple disabilities.
According to her, the UPSC advertisement for CSE exams issued in February 2022 had not provided for reservations under this category.
However, CAT noted that she only approached the bench after she had cleared the preliminary exams, the mains exam and only after the UPSC issued a show cause notice to her on 27 December 2022 asking her how come she was eligible for applying for this exam under “Multiple Disabilities” category as her disability does not fall in any of the categories as per the 2016 Disabilities Act.
It was to challenge this notice that Puja approached the CAT.
In its previous hearing held on 30 January 2023 order, the UPSC had told CAT that it has decided to let her appear for interview on a provisional basis in the Multiple Disabilities category subject to the same being confirmed by a medical board later.
On subsequent hearing, the CAT said that Puja had approached only after she was served the show cause notice but she did not challenge the advertisement when it was published in February 2022 and stated that she had by her own conduct dis-entitled herself to any relief.
Responding to her availing reservation under the OBC category, Dilip Khedkar, Puja’s father, told The Sunday Guardian that everything will come out clear post the inquiry.
Speaking on the issue, Pune based RTI activist and AAP leader Vijay Kumbhar told The Sunday Guardian that the entire matter needs to be investigated as it will lead to unravelling more cases where candidates have been selected in All India Services by giving wrong information.
“The entire UPSC’s selection has come under question due to Puja Khedkar’s disability certificate. There are so many questions that authorities need to answer. How did she receive a non-creamy layer certificate when her parents’ total asset is over Rs 50 crore”? he asked.
To qualify as an OBC non-creamy layer candidate, the annual income of the applicant’s parents or the yearly income of the family should not be more than Rs 8 lakh.
According to Khedkar’s “statement of immovable property for the year 2023”, updated as of 1 January 2024, she owns five plots of land and two apartments across Maharashtra. The value of these assets totals Rs 22 crore.
Her father is a resident of Pathardi, district Ahmednagar and was commissioner of the Pollution Department before retiring. He had filed his nomination to contest the recent Lok Sabha elections on a regional party ticket from South Ahmednagar but his nomination was cancelled after scrutiny. Her mother Dr Manorama Khedkar is the elected sarpanch of Bhalgaon. Her maternal grandfather Jagannathrao Budhwant was an IAS officer.