New Delhi: For several decades, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has enjoyed enormous legitimacy as one of the most impregnable and incorruptible institutions in the country. For a constitutionally mandated body, which picks the topmost officers who govern, police and administer every district, state and the federal government of the country, this image has been imperative.
However, after the case of the controversial trainee IAS Puja Khedkar, who allegedly faked her identity and documents to get through the civil services examination (CSE) after 12 attempts unravelled, questions are now being raised as to how she managed to slip under the radar of not just the UPSC, but also the department of personnel and training (DoPT), under the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions, which gives the appointment letter to successful candidates after verifying all documents submitted by the candidate.
Ever since her case has come into the public domain, there has been a deluge of allegations of similar cases of forgery being made by officers on social media. Amitabh Kant, former IAS officer and ex-CEO of the NITI Aayog, for instance, Saturday wrote on X, “Several cases of fraud through UPSC for entry to top Civil Services are being alleged. All such cases must be fully investigated and the sternest action taken. Selection on the basis of competence and integrity should never get compromised…”
Ashok Khemka, another senior Haryana cadre IAS officer, said in a post on X that the Khedkar episode has also put a spotlight on backdoor appointments being made to IAS and IPS. “Anger against an IAS probationer taking wrongful benefits of OBC-NCL and PwBD categories. Public anger will ensure the proverbial long arm of law will catch her. But what about illegal, backdoor appointments made to IAS/IPS, completely bypassing public competitive examinations,” he wrote.
The UPSC — whose chairperson’s resignation, five years before his tenure ends, came to light last week as the controversy raged — has come under attack from the Opposition.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X, “The multiple scandals that have plagued the UPSC is a cause of national concern. PM Modi and his Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions must come clean. Numerous cases of unqualified individuals faking caste and medical certificates seemed to have duped a ‘foolproof’ system.”
Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav said on X that the resignation of the UPSC chairperson is “no solution,” and that “The BJP has rusted the ‘Steel frame of India’.”
ThePrint spoke to over a dozen serving and retired officials, including those in the UPSC and DoPT, to find out how pervasive the problem of entry into the elite civil services through forgery is, what are the verification procedures in place, what are the loopholes that are exploited by fraud candidates, and what are the possible solutions to this problem.
While the answers to these questions are complex, most officials are clear about one thing — Khedkar’s case is only the tip of the iceberg.
Also read: Puja Khedkar did what Indian society readily accepts—see corruption as aspirational
Khedkar’s bizarre ‘frauds’
Khedkar’s list of alleged frauds is long. In order to make it to the IAS, she obtained three disability certificates in 3 years, forged her name and address, her OBC certificates, and managed to appear for the exam 12 times by faking her identity, even though the number of attempts allowed for candidates applying under the OBC or PwBD (Persons with Benchmark Disability) quotas is nine.
Last week, in an unprecedented move, the UPSC filed an FIR against her for appearing for the exam a dozen times by faking her identity, and issued a show cause notice to her for cancellation of her candidature.
Yet, several serving and retired IAS officers including former UPSC members, said that it is “puzzling” how Khedkar managed to hoodwink the system despite red flags galore from early on.
In 2022 and 2023, Khedkar had knocked the doors of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) twice, challenging the UPSC’s decision to not give reservation claimed by her under Section 34 (1) (d) and (e) of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. While mental illness is listed under Section 34 (1)(d), multiple disabilities including low vision, hearing disability, deaf-blindness fall under (1)(e). UPSC and DoPT were made party to the case both times.
In the first case, which pertained to the exam Khedkar took in 2021, the CAT in February 2023 dismissed Khedkar’s application saying that her candidature is liable for cancellation as she did not appear for medical examinations, as advised by the AIIMS Medical Board, six times.
According to the verification rules of the UPSC and DoPT, a candidate who seeks reservation under the PwBD category has to undergo medical examination as mandated by the examination rules in order to be appointed by the government. A UPSC document of frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding the admission under the PwBD category states, “it is to be noted clearly that the prescribed Medical Examination as per the Examinations Rules, also including that for PwBD categories, shall be mandatory and only the results of the prescribed Medical Examination shall be deemed valid for assessing whether a PwBD category candidate meets the requirements to be appointed.”
In the second case, which pertained to the exam Khedkar took in 2022, the UPSC issued her a show cause notice for claiming reservation for disability under the mental illness category, which the UPSC does not accept for civil services.
Khedkar had challenged the show cause notice issued to her after she had cleared the prelims and main exams and was shortlisted for the interview. CAT, in its March 2023 order dismissed her application on the ground that she has already been allowed to appear for the interview provisionally subject to “final determination of the aspect of her disability in multiple disabilities category by the competent medical board constituted by the DoPT.”
Khedkar eventually cleared the interview, appeared for her medical examination and got the benchmark disability certificate for having 40 percent visual impairment and 13 percent hearing disability. DoPT accepted the certificate and gave her the coveted appointment letter for joining the IAS, and thus, she became a trainee IAS officer of the 2023 Batch.
A former UPSC member, who did not want to be named, said the fact that she did not cooperate with the medical board and did not appear for medical examination six times in 2022 should have been reason enough for action against her. “The authorities should have been careful. She should not have been given a second chance,” the former member told ThePrint.
Instead, not only was Khedkar allowed to appear in civil services exams (CSE) again but the AIIMS board gave her the disability certificate, the former member said. “Shouldn’t somebody have smelled a rat? Here was a candidate who did not appear for medical examination six times in 2022 and in less than a year clears the written exams and interview a second time, appears for medical examination at AIIMS, and gets a disability certificate. It’s puzzling to say the least,” the former UPSC member added.
A secretary in one of the central ministries said that cases like Khedkar end up casting aspersions on the whole system. “At a time when agencies like NTA that conducts NEET-UG exams have come under cloud for alleged irregularities, a case like this is bound to shake the faith of lakhs of candidates who apply for the CSE every year,” the secretary said.
ThePrint reached current UPSC secretary Shashi Ranjan Kumar via calls. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
Process of verification shrouded in confusion
Former DoPT and UPSC officials say that they are fully aware that such cases of forgery are ubiquitous. “I have known of a case when an officer turned 59, it was revealed that he had sought admission on the basis of a false certificate, and his pension was cancelled,” a former DoPT secretary, who did not wish to be named, said.
Yet, it remains impossible for the government or the UPSC to ensure that no case slips through the cracks.
“There is a lot of discretion of district-level officers in handing over certificates, especially the non-creamy layer OBC ones and the PwBD ones,” said Satyanand Mishra, a former secretary of the DoPT. “All states have different rules as to who will give the certificates, but it is generally someone like the ADM (Additional District Magistrate), Tehsildar, District Magistrate, etc.,” he said. “But if you have a dishonest officer, they can easily give away a false certificate.”
While reservation certificates for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) categories are fairly straightforward, and less susceptible to forgery, it is the OBC ones, which need income certificates to ensure that one does not fall under the “creamy layer”, and the PwBD ones, which are susceptible to forgery, Mishra SAID. “It is post the 1990s that cases of fraud in UPSC have gone up,” he said.
But that is only part of the problem. The process of verification remains shrouded in confusion both on paper and in practice.
Former UPSC officials, including a retired member, secretary and chairman, for instance, told ThePrint that the UPSC only does a prima facie verification of documents and after a candidate clears the interview, sends it to the DoPT for a more stringent verification.
To begin with, there is a problem with numbers. The sheer number of candidates applying for the CSE makes it a near impossible task to verify all documents with the same rigour, the former UPSC member, said. Khedkar, for instance, was one among some 10 lakh candidates, who appeared for the UPSC exam in 2021 and 2022.
Every year, close to 10-13 lakh candidates sit for the CSE. Each candidate has to submit about a dozen documents, such as marksheets, date of birth certificate, income certificate if seeking reservation under EWS or OBC non creamy layer quota, and disability certificate if applying under disability quota among others.
“10 lakh candidates and each one of them submitting at least 10 documents. It is not humanly possible to verify each and every document for correctness. Most of the certificates, including for EWS and disability, are issued at the district level. There are over 800 districts in the country. If we start verifying each document for correctness, the whole examination process will get delayed by 4-5 months. It’s a humongous task,” the former member said.
Moreover, as pointed out by another former member quoted earlier, candidates have to produce physical certificates only at the time of appearing for the interview. “If on the face of it, some discrepancy is noticed in the certificate, we circle the number and put it in the general category. But, how do you verify the income certificate at the ground level? We go by the certificate issued by the sub-divisional magistrate,” she said, adding that there is a scope for a person to lie or come up with a fake certificate.
Therefore, it is the DoPT, and not the UPSC, which is responsible for the more stringent checks of documents at the time of final appointments, both former and serving UPSC officials said.
However, according to several DoPT letters to state governments, it is the state governments on whom the DoPT eventually depends for verification.
In 2021, for instance, the DoPT wrote to all state governments that “the responsibility for the issue and verification of caste certificates lies with the concerned state/Union territory government. The Hon’ble Supreme Court, vide its Order dated 2.9.1994 in the matter of Kumari Madhuri Patil vs Addi. Commissioner, laid down the detailed guidelines for effective verification of the caste certificates of the employees, so that no person, on the basis of a fake caste certificate, may secure employment wrongfully in the government.”
Similarly, in 2007, taking cognizance of the cases of forgery of documents, the DoPT asked state governments “to streamline the system so that the unscrupulous non-SC/ST/OBC persons are prevented from securing jobs meant for SCs/STs/OBCs by producing false certificates”. The letter stated that while appointing authorities often ask the district authorities to verify the documents of candidates at the time of appointment, many a time, district authorities take too long to respond, thereby allowing candidates to enter the services, and hold positions on the basis of fake documents. The letter further said, “Chances of collusion of the candidate with some unscrupulous employee(s) at the district level cannot also be ruled out.”
Mishra, the former DoPT secretary, highlighted the same problem. “The DoPT is meant to verify the documents, but it does so through the same district authorities who first issued the certificate. So, if there is a compromised official there, they will, of course, verify the fake document,” he said.
Moreover, officials point out that it is not as though cases of fraud are never caught. “A few years ago, 20-30 appointments were withheld because the OBC certificates of the candidates were found to have discrepancies,” said a former UPSC official who was posted in the commission at the time.
‘A wake-up call’
Given the gravity of Khedkar’s case, and the questions it has raised on the UPSC’s credibility, retired and serving officials believe that the case should be a wake-up call for the commission, the DoPT and the state governments.
D.P. Agrawal, who was the UPSC Chairman between 2008 and 2013, said, “Errors can occur anywhere. Over the years, things have changed a lot technologically and our systems including conducting exams and verifying documents etc. should be attuned to it to make the process fool-proof,” he told ThePrint.
While the UPSC has initiated action against Khedkar, officers said that more systemic reforms are needed.
“Biometric authentication of candidates should be introduced in CSE and other recruitment exams that UPSC conducts. Let the candidate Aadhaar authenticate his or her identity,” a senior IAS officer said.
This will help check cases where a candidate appeared for exams beyond the permissible limit, the officer added.
A second IAS officer posted in Maharashtra said that the government should also mandate that all documents and certificates are linked to a digital platform like digi-locker, which should be integrated with Aadhaar. “As and when required, the documents can be fetched from the digital platform using biometric authentication. This will do away with the current system of verification process, which is not foolproof,” the officer said.
Besides, the entire certification infrastructure at the state level needs to be reformed. “The scope for fraud is much more in the issuance of disability, OBC and EWS certificates,” the second IAS officer added.
A section of former UPSC officers also said that a strong leader at the helm at UPSC is the need of the hour.
“The UPSC chairman is not a figurehead. It is a full-time executive function. It’s important that the chairman, who is appointed, has requisite administrative experience. At the end of the day, it’s the chairman whose stamp is there in all the decisions,” the member added.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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