“Someone Must Have Doubted…”: Senior Doctor On Trainee IAS Officer’s Disability Claim

Pune:

Trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar – under scrutiny over claims she lied about mental and visual disabilities to clear the Civil Services exam – was sent by the UPSC, the government’s recruiting body, for a medical check-up because “someone must have doubted” her claim of infirmities, a senior doctor and former Director of Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Science, told NDTV.

There are also questions over her claiming OBC, or Other Backward Classes, status. 

“Someone must have doubted Puja Khedkar’s disability (claim)… that is why she was sent to AIIMS for examination,” Dr MC Mishra, the ex-Director of AIIMS, said this afternoon.

Ms Khedkar had been directed to AIIMS to confirm claims of multiple disabilities, including locomotor problems, she had made during the application process. However, according to multiple reports she skipped as many as six appointments between April and August 2022.

“Before admissions a board is formed and the candidate is examined. There are many types of disabilities… we test the proportion of each claim of disability,” Dr MC Mishra told NDTV.

READ | Trainee IAS Officer Who Used Siren On Car Claimed Mental Disability

“When (Ms Khedkar sought) selection due to disability UPSC must have asked AIIMS to get the disability examination done,” he explained, “Usually this type of disability is not given in RML (Delhi’s government-run Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, one of the city’s largest facilities).”

Dr Mishra also said – and this may explain how Ms Khedkar managed to pass the ultra-competitive Civil Services exam without definitive proof of her claimed disabilities – “Even if one does not have a disability, it is not impossible to get a disability certificate.”

This week it emerged Ms Khedkar had, in August, possibly after she skipped the sixth summons from AIIMS, sought a disability certificate from Pune’s Aundh Hospital, which turned her down.

READ | “Regret To Inform…”: Trainee IAS Officer’s Disability Request Was Denied

“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… it is not possible to issue a disability certificate in your favour,” she was told.

A copy of the hospital’s letter to Ms Khedkar has been accessed by NDTV.

Ms Khedkar’s request for a medical disability request was rejected.

According to Dr Mishra, locomotor disability claims would be examined by neurologists and orthopaedics, among others, who would also have to rule on the extent of the disability.

The Aundh Hospital was a no-go, but Ms Khedkar got a certificate from a Pipri hospital, which diagnosed her with an “old ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear with left knee instability”.

Ms Khedkar, who is also accused of abusing the privileges of her posting, is being investigated by a one-member panel set up by the government and will be sacked if found guilty.

She had been first appointed as an Assistant Collector in Pune district.

However, after the allegations emerged, she was transferred to Washim.

READ | Trainee IAS Officer Puja Khedkar Called Cops Home For 2 Hours

Sources said she reached out cops in Washim late last night and had a two-hour meeting with three women officers, at her residence. The subject of the discussion is not yet known.

READ | Where Are Trainee IAS Puja Khedkar’s Parents? Cops Launch Manhunt

Ms Khedkar, whose parents are now roiled in cases too, had so far refused to comment on her situation, insisting that “government rules” forbade her from making a statement. On Monday, though, she did. She hit out at the “media trial” surrounding her actions.

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