In the aftermath of Puja Khedkar row, govt. makes changes to Civil Services Examination Rules

Disqualified IAS probationer Puja Khedkar.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The online submission of documents such as educational, caste and physical disability certificates has been made mandatory for aspirants at the stage of preliminary examinations of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), unlike earlier when documents were to be scanned and uploaded once a candidate qualified for the Mains examination, according to a government notification.

Also read | UPSC cancels Puja Khedkar’s candidature for CSE 2022, debars from all future exams

On Wednesday (January 22, 2025), the Ministry of Personnel notified the Rules for Civil Services Examination Rules (CSE) 2025 to be conducted by the UPSC. The Ministry notified 979 vacancies for this year’s examinations, which is the lowest in the past three years. The exams are held to recruit candidates for 23 services including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS).

In the CSE 2023, around 10.1 lakh candidates applied, however, only 5.9 lakh candidates appeared for the examinations.

The changes have been brought in the wake of probationer Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar’s case who allegedly forged identity papers, misrepresented and falsified facts to obtain extra attempts and produced a fake persons with benchmark disability (PwBD) certificate to gain reservation in the CSE 2022. As a result, Ms. Khedkar could bypass UPSC’s gatekeeping by appearing in the exams 12 times as against nine attempts that are allowed.

The alleged forgery and crime was revealed in June last year while she was posted for field training in Pune. Ms. Khedkar was subsequently discharged from the service, faces criminal cases and is currently on bail.

Following this, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) initiated an enquiry against six bureaucrats including a probationer to re-examine their disability parameters.

The officials — five Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers and an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer — got into the services by availing reservation benefits under the PwBD category.

The January 22 notification stated that a candidate who is willing to apply for CSE “shall be required to apply online and submit the requisite information and supporting documents towards various claims, such as date of birth, category [viz. SC (Schedule Caste/ST(Scheduled Tribe) /OBC (Other Backward Classes (OBC)/ EWS (Economically Weaker Section) /PwBD/Ex-Servicemen], educational qualification and Service preference, etc.” as may be sought by the Commission.

It added that “the failure to provide the required information and documents along with the registration and online application form will entail cancellation of candidature for the examination”.

Till now, the service and cadre preference were to be submitted after clearing the Mains examination.

However, the notification states that the Commission shall provide a window of 10 days after the declaration of preliminary examination results for specifying cadre preference. The Commission will provide a window of 15 days from the date of declaration of results of written part of Civil Services (Main) Examination to the candidates qualified for Personality Test/Interview.

In June last year, UPSC invited tenders to revamp the examination system by bringing in technological solutions such as Aadhar-based fingerprint authentication, facial recognition and AI-based CCTV surveillance. The Commission conducts 14 examinations every year, including CSE and a number of recruitment tests, and interviews for induction to Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ posts of the Government of India.