District hospital issued 2 disability certificates to IAS trainee Puja Khedkar: Surgeon

PUNE: Ahmednagar district civil hospital officials confirmed on Saturday that the hospital had twice issued "persons with disability certificates" twice to probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar - once in 2018 and again in 2021. The certificates were issued by two separate committees.

District civil surgeon Dr Sanjay Ghogare told TOI on Saturday that one committee issued the first disability certificate to Khedkar on April 25, 2018 for low vision, and another issued the second certificate on Jan 19, 2021 for multiple disabilities. He said the second certificate covered both low vision and mental illness (depression).

He said two or three member panels were appointed to verify disability status of the applicant.

Khedkar had submitted a PwBD (persons with benchmark disability) certificate at the time of appearing for her UPSC exam. Disability activists, including Rafiq Khan, sought a probe into the certificates issued to her.

Khedkar's father had earlier said she had all the relevant documents and they would be submitted to the agencies investigating the issue. Repeated attempts by TOI to contact the Khedkar family went in vain.


Ghogare said, "We have been told to submit a detailed report on the certificates to Ahmednagar collector S Salimath by Tuesday. Copies of the certificate, test reports and other probe reports would be there in the files."

Ahmednagar district collector Salimath said he had asked the district civil hospital to verify if the documents were issued to Khedkar. "A detailed report is expected from the hospital next week," he said.

Khedkar first courted controversy for allegedly using a beacon and a "Govt of Maharashtra" insignia on her car while she was posted in Pune. She was transferred to Washim on July 8. Centre on Thursday constituted a single-member committee comprising an additional secretary to Govt of India to verify the candidature claims and other details of Khedkar.

Maharashtra commissioner of disability Pravin Kundlik Puri had told Pune commissioner of police (CP) and Pune district collector in writing on Friday to investigate on priority the authenticity of Khedkar's disability certificates and register a case if they were found to be fake. Puri said on Saturday he would check with the Ahmednagar collector about the documents.

Pune Joint CP Ranjan Kumar Sharma told TOI, "We have received the application and are enquiring about it. Most probably the certificate(s) was issued from Ahmednagar."

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