Fresh reports have emerged in the ongoing controversy surrounding trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar, alleging misuse of power and violation of appointment rules. Khedkar reportedly secured admission for MBBS at Pune’s Kashibai Navale Medical College using the OBC non-creamy layer quota.
Media reports stated Khedkar was admitted under the OBC Nomadic Tribe-3 category, reserved for the Vanjari community. At the time of her admission, Khedkar’s father was a serving bureaucrat in Maharashtra. Reports claim that Khedkar’s admission was based on the private college’s entrance examination, and her Common Entrance Test (CET) score was not considered.
However, Arvind Bhore, director of Kashibai Navale Medical College, stated that Khedkar took admission in 2007 through the CET. Bhore also mentioned that Khedkar had submitted a medical fitness certificate which did not indicate any disability.
“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,” mentioned Bhore.
Khedkar’s OBC non-creamy layer status and her Persons with Benchmark Disability (PwBD) certificate are under scrutiny after her alleged demands for a separate cabin and staff during her posting in Pune and her subsequent abrupt transfer to Washim district.
In August 2022, Khedkar applied for a PwBD certificate from Pune, but doctors declined the request, stating it was not possible to issue a disability certificate in her favour. The letter from the medical board dated October 11, 2022, confirmed this decision.
Khedkar’s father, retired bureaucrat Dilip Khedkar, who contested the Lok Sabha elections and declared property worth ₹40 crore in his poll affidavit, defended the legitimacy of her disability certificate.
He stated, “There are many kinds of disabilities. Puja suffers from vision impairment, which is more than 40 per cent. Therefore, she fulfils the 40 per cent criteria of the disability,” adding that “medical experts on a panel had verified her disabilities before issuing the certificate.”
Dilip Khedkar further claimed that his daughter has “a certain category of mental illness which was also verified by medical professionals before the disability certificate was issued”.
