The doctor’s certificate submitted by controversial probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar.
While securing admission to a private medical college in 2007 declared her “medically fit” and said she did not have any major visual or auditory disability.
Puja Khedkar is at the centre of controversy for allegedly abusing her authority and submitting fraudulent disability and caste certificates to qualify for the civil service exam.
“She has not given any personal history of any disease incapacitating her to undergo the professional course. Also, on clinical examination, it has been found that she is medically fit to undergo the course,” the fitness certificate said.
It was submitted by Puja Khedkar to Kashibai Navle Medical College while taking admission for MBBS in 2007.
The institute’s director, Dr Arvind Bhore, said there was no mention of any disability, whether physical or mental, in the fitness certificate.
“She had submitted a certificate showing she is from the NT (Nomadic Tribes) category and from the Vanjari community. She had submitted a caste certificate and non-creamy layer certificate,” Bhore told a Marathi TV channel.
In her affidavit to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Khedkar, a 2023-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, claimed to be visually impaired.
She missed as many as six medical tests to verify her disability in 2022. However, she later produced an MRI report from an external medical centre, which was accepted in 2023 after an eight-month delay.
Khedkar hit headlines after she was transferred from Pune to Washim for making inappropriate demands and requesting special privileges from the Pune Collector’s office that were not permitted for her designation.
She also used her private Audi car with a beacon and VIP number plate. She had also installed a ‘Maharashtra government’ board on her private car.
The Centre has formed a one-member committee to look into the matter.