The Centre has discharged 2023 batch IAS Probationer Puja Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service with immediate effect. Sources said, the government issued an order yesterday in this regard under the IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954. The rules allow the central government to discharge probationers from service if they fail to pass the re-examination or if the central government is satisfied that the probationer was ineligible for for recruitment to the Service or is unsuitable for being a member of the Service among others.

Puja Khedkar was found guilty of cheating and wrongly availing Other Backward Classes (OBC) and disability quota benefits and fraudulently clearing the civil services examination held by the Union Public Service Commission. After cancelling her selection, the UPSC had barred her from taking the entrance exam for life. The UPSC found her guilty of forging her identity to take the exam multiple times.