Delhi HC asks Puja Khedkar to respond to UPSC’s plea seeking perjury proceedings against her

PTI, Sep 12, 2024, 1:37 PM IST

The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought former probationary Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar’s response on a plea by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) seeking initiation of perjury proceedings against her for allegedly giving false statement and affidavit in the court.

Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to Khedkar on the UPSC’s application and granted her three weeks to file reply to it.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on November 26.

The UPSC contended that the July 31 communication by which Khedkar’s candidature was cancelled was communicated to her on her registered email id the same day. It said it was the same email id, which was registered in her online application for the Civil Service Program (CSP) 2022.

However, she made a false statement in the court that she has not been served with the order and she came to know of it only through the press release issued by the UPSC, it claimed.

Senior advocate Naresh Kaushik, representing the UPSC, submitted that the former officer even gave false information to her lawyers and she very well knew that she was making a false statement on oath yet she deliberately swore to the correctness of the false statement.

“Making false averments on oath with the view to obtain favourable orders from the court, being a very serious offence, undermines the very foundation of the legal system,” said the application filed by advocate Vardhman Kaushik.

It claimed that Khedkar’s affidavit was of July 28, 2024 when the July 31 speaking order issued by the UPSC was not even in existence.

The UPSC urged the court to initiate appropriate proceedings and direct an inquiry against Khedkar in accordance with law for committing the offence of perjury.

Khedkar had earlier approached the high court challenging the UPSC’s press release stating that her candidature has been cancelled.

She had claimed that the cancellation order was never communicated to her and she came to know about it only through the press release.

The court had disposed of the petition after noting the UPSC’s submission that it will communicate within two days its order cancelling her candidature.

On July 31, the UPSC cancelled Khedkar’s candidature and debarred her from future exams.

She was accused of ‘misrepresenting information’ in her application for the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2022. Khedkar was also accused of cheating and wrongly availing of OBC and disability quota benefits.

On August 1, a trial court here had denied her anticipatory bail, saying these are serious allegations that “require a thorough investigation”.