Delhi High Court: In a bail application filed by former IAS trainee officer Puja Khedkar in the event of arrest on the basis of a First Information Report (‘FIR’) for offences punishable under Sections 420/464/465/571 of the Penal Code1, 1860, Section 66-D of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, and Sections 89/91 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, a Single Judge Bench of Subramonium Prasad, J. impleaded Union Public Service Commission (‘UPSC’) as one of the respondents in the matter and held that Puja Khedkar shall not be arrested till the next date of hearing.
Background
In the present matter, the allegation against Puja Khedkar was that she had deliberately supplied false information as well as certificates, and had fraudulently taken an examination that she was not eligible to take due to exhaustion of all the attempts that she was entitled to.
Puja Khedkar had previously filed a writ petition against UPSC for issuance of a writ of certiorari to quash the press release dated 31-07-2024 issued by them, to quash the show-cause notice dated 26-07-2024 issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions, and for the issuance of a writ of mandamus to direct the Department of Personnel and Training to not take any future action based on the impugned action of the UPSC.
In the aforesaid matter, UPSC made a preliminary objection that as per Section 14 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, the Central Administrative Tribunal (‘CAT’) shall exercise its jurisdiction and powers in relation to recruitment and matters regarding recruitment to All India Service as well as in all service matters regarding a member of All India Service. The Court agreed to this objection.
Thus, Puja Khedkar sought to withdraw the writ petition but stated that the order of cancellation of her candidature and/or debarment from future examinations had not been served upon her. Puja Khedkar stated that she came to know this only through the press release issued by UPSC.
The Court disposed of the writ petition and granted liberty to Puja Khedkar to avail legal remedies against the order of cancellation of her candidature and permanent debarment from future selections.
Analysis and Decision
Even though UPSC was not made a party in the present matter, the Court stated that it was inclined to implead UPSC as one of the respondents, and directed Puja Khedkar to file an amended memo of the parties.
Further, considering the facts of the present matter, the Court opined that Puja Khedkar shall not be arrested till the next date of hearing.
The matter was listed on 21-08-2024.
[Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar v. State (NCT of Delhi), 2024 SCC OnLine Del 5638, Decided on 12-08-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioner — Sr. Advocate Siddharth Luthra, Advocate Bina Madhavan, Advocate Lakshay Saini, Advocate Raj Sahebpatil, Advocate Mihir Joshi, Advocate Udbhav Sinha, Advocate Vinayak Gautam, Advocate Supriya Wankhede
For Respondent — APP Tarang Srivastava, Sr. Advocate Naresh Kaushik, Advocate Vardhman Kaushik, Advocate Anand Singh, Advocate Vinay Kaushik, Advocate Shikha John
Buy Penal Code, 1860 HERE
1. 318(4)/335/336(2)/340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
