The Evening Wrap: Puja Khedkar discharged from Indian Administrative Service

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has discharged probationer Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar from service, more than a month after her candidature was cancelled by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Delhi Police registered a criminal case against her. A senior DoPT official said that “on September 6, the Central government discharged Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, IAS probationer, Maharashtra cadre, 2023 batch from the IAS under Rule 12 of IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954 with immediate effect. On July 31, UPSC had said that Ms. Khedkar was found “guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of the Civil Services Examination-2022 Rules.” Rule 12 of the IAS (probation) Rules states that the probationer shall be liable to be discharged from service “if the Central Government is satisfied that the probationer was ineligible for recruitment to the Service or is unsuitable for being a member of the Service.” While a serving officer is dismissed from service, a probationer is discharged. The discharge can be on account of failure to clear the examinations at the training academy or “if in the opinion of the Central Government he/she has wilfully neglected his probationary studies or duties or is found lacking in qualities of mind and character needed for the Service.” New Aadhaar applicants in Assam need to submit NRC receipt number: Himanta Assam has more Aadhaar card holders than the projected populations in at least four districts, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday (September 7, 2024). The “worrying” data has made the State government decide to toughen the Aadhaar application process by linking it to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) apart from intensifying the process of detecting people who entered Assam illegally from Bangladesh, he said. “We will issue a notification making it mandatory for all adult applicants to provide their NRC application number while applying for Aadhaar from October 1. Whether or not an applicant’s name is in NRC (complete draft published on August 31, 2019) is secondary, but the application number will imply he or she was in India before the NRC process began,” Mr. Sarma said. The Chief Minister said the State government approached the Centre for a greater say in the Aadhaar process after finding out some districts had more Aadhaar card holders than their projected populations. He, however, did not rule out the possibility of the projected populations in these districts being less than the actual numbers. While 103.74% of Barpeta district’s projected population was found to possess Aadhaar cards, the figures for Dhubri (bordering Bangladesh), Nagaon, and Morigaon districts were 103.48%, 101.86%, and 101.76% respectively. Muslims, mostly of Bengali origin often perceived to be Bangladeshi, are the majority in these districts. Six dead in Manipur gunfight day after rocket attack Less than 24 hours after a 70-year-old Meitei died in a rocket attack in the central part of Manipur, six people were killed in a gunfight early Saturday (September 7, 2024) morning on the State’s border with Assam. Officials in the State’s Jiribam district said suspected Kuki extremists shot an elderly Meitei man dead in his sleep at Nungchappi village at about 5.30 a.m. Five members of armed groups — four from the Kuki-Zo community and one from the Meitei community — were killed in a retaliatory gunfight. Members of both groups claimed the people who died in the gunfight were “village volunteers”. The violence spread to the nearby Rashidpur area where intermittent firing continued until 9.50 a.m. The situation remained tense as the hostilities — lesser in intensity as the day progressed — did not end, the officials said. After the killing, a heavy exchange of fire broke out between armed men of the warring communities in the hills around 7 km from the district headquarters, leading to the deaths of four armed persons, including three hills-based militants, the officer said. Meanwhile, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh met Governor L. Acharya in the evening amid fresh incidents of violence in the State. Singh rushed to meet Acharya after an emergency meeting of ruling coalition MLAs and Ministers at the CM Secretariat, official sources said. Earlier, the meeting of MLAs, attended by 25 legislators, discussed matters related to the series of attacks by armed miscreants, the source said. Former R.G. Kar principal had criminal nexus with co-accused for wrongful gains: CBI Arrested former principal of R.G. Kar hospital Sandip Ghosh has been operating a “criminal nexus” along with the other “co-accused” for “wrongful gains”, according to initial findings of the CBI’s probe into financial irregularities at the medical establishment in Kolkata, an officer claimed on Saturday (September 7, 2024). The central probe agency had also placed the findings before a special court here during a hearing earlier in the week, he said. The CBI had arrested Ghosh, two vendors, and his security person for their alleged involvement in financial irregularities at the State-run hospital, where the rape-murder of a young doctor has triggered nationwide protests. “These (two) vendors were known to Ghosh since he was with the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital. We have found that they granted the contracts of RGKMC&H (RG Kar Medical College and Hospital) only because of their proximity with Ghosh,” the officer said. Ghosh was posted at the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital for two years from 2016 to 2018. He was subsequently transferred to the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, where he was posted till February 2021 before taking charge of RGKMC&H. The CBI’s probe also revealed how Ghosh “favoured” the organisation belonging to his security guard’s wife by awarding the contract of a cafe inside the hospital, he said. “Both these vendors were in Murshidabad and Ghosh brought them to Kolkata when he was made the principal of the RG Kar hospital. They were favoured for supply of materials to the hospital,” the officer said. “It is revealed that they all have been frequently in touch with each other, which corroborates the allegation of criminal nexus as in the FIR,” the CBI had said in its submission in the special court in Alipore on September 3. “Evidence collected during [the] investigation conducted so far, has revealed that Dr Sandip Ghosh, in criminal nexus with other co-accused persons, by way of illegal means, caused wrongful loss to the government and corresponding wrongful gain to himself and other accused persons,” the central agency said. The CBI also claimed that the “letters of work order used to be addressed to different officers of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, but these were never handed over to them”. The probe agency, the officer said, is also investigating the role of Ghosh’s security guard as “he was the person who used to contact vendors to sell the biomedical waste of the hospital”. In Brief: In a rare public acknowledgement by a serving Pakistani Army chief, General Asim Munir has mentioned the involvement of Pakistan Army in the Kargil war as he listed the 1999 conflict with India among the major wars fought with the eastern neighbour. Munir, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was speaking during the Defence and Martyrs Day event at Rawalpindi on Friday (September 6, 2024). The Kargil conflict had brought India and Pakistan to the brink of nuclear conflagration. Pakistan says it pulled out after the U.S. intervened to cool the frayed tempers while India claims a decisive victory in the war that took place in the Himalayan heights. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 07 September 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Puja Khedkar discharged from Indian Administrative Service The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has [discharged probationer Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar from service]( more than a month after her candidature was cancelled by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Delhi Police registered a criminal case against her. A senior DoPT official said that “on September 6, the Central government discharged Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, IAS probationer, Maharashtra cadre, 2023 batch from the IAS under Rule 12 of IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954 with immediate effect. On July 31, UPSC had said that Ms. Khedkar was found “guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of the Civil Services Examination-2022 Rules.” Rule 12 of the IAS (probation) Rules states that the probationer shall be liable to be discharged from service “if the Central Government is satisfied that the probationer was ineligible for recruitment to the Service or is unsuitable for being a member of the Service.” While a serving officer is dismissed from service, a probationer is discharged. The discharge can be on account of failure to clear the examinations at the training academy or “if in the opinion of the Central Government he/she has wilfully neglected his probationary studies or duties or is found lacking in qualities of mind and character needed for the Service.” New Aadhaar applicants in Assam need to submit NRC receipt number: Himanta Assam has more Aadhaar card holders than the projected populations in at least four districts, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday (September 7, 2024). The “worrying” data has made the State government decide to toughen the Aadhaar application process by linking it to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) apart from intensifying the process of detecting people who entered Assam illegally from Bangladesh, he said. “We will issue a notification [making it mandatory for all adult applicants to provide their NRC application number while applying for Aadhaar]( from October 1. Whether or not an applicant’s name is in NRC (complete draft published on August 31, 2019) is secondary, but the application number will imply he or she was in India before the NRC process began,” Mr. Sarma said. The Chief Minister said the State government approached the Centre for a greater say in the Aadhaar process after finding out some districts had more Aadhaar card holders than their projected populations. He, however, did not rule out the possibility of the projected populations in these districts being less than the actual numbers. While 103.74% of Barpeta district’s projected population was found to possess Aadhaar cards, the figures for Dhubri (bordering Bangladesh), Nagaon, and Morigaon districts were 103.48%, 101.86%, and 101.76% respectively. Muslims, mostly of Bengali origin often perceived to be Bangladeshi, are the majority in these districts. Six dead in Manipur gunfight day after rocket attack Less than 24 hours after [a 70-year-old Meitei died in a rocket attack]( in the central part of Manipur, [six people were killed in a gunfight]( early Saturday (September 7, 2024) morning on the State’s border with Assam. Officials in the State’s Jiribam district said suspected Kuki extremists shot an elderly Meitei man dead in his sleep at Nungchappi village at about 5.30 a.m. Five members of armed groups — four from the Kuki-Zo community and one from the Meitei community — were killed in a retaliatory gunfight. Members of both groups claimed the people who died in the gunfight were “village volunteers”. The violence spread to the nearby Rashidpur area where intermittent firing continued until 9.50 a.m. The situation remained tense as the hostilities — lesser in intensity as the day progressed — did not end, the officials said. After the killing, a heavy exchange of fire broke out between armed men of the warring communities in the hills around 7 km from the district headquarters, leading to the deaths of four armed persons, including three hills-based militants, the officer said. Meanwhile, [Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh met Governor L. Acharya]( in the evening amid fresh incidents of violence in the State. Singh rushed to meet Acharya after an emergency meeting of ruling coalition MLAs and Ministers at the CM Secretariat, official sources said. Earlier, the meeting of MLAs, attended by 25 legislators, discussed matters related to the series of attacks by armed miscreants, the source said. Former R.G. Kar principal had criminal nexus with co-accused for wrongful gains: CBI Arrested former principal of R.G. Kar hospital Sandip Ghosh has been operating a “criminal nexus” along with the other “co-accused” for “wrongful gains”, [according to initial findings of the CBI’s probe into financial irregularities]( at the medical establishment in Kolkata, an officer claimed on Saturday (September 7, 2024). The central probe agency had also placed the findings before a special court here during a hearing earlier in the week, he said. The CBI had arrested Ghosh, two vendors, and his security person for their alleged involvement in financial irregularities at the State-run hospital, where the rape-murder of a young doctor has triggered nationwide protests. “These (two) vendors were known to Ghosh since he was with the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital. We have found that they granted the contracts of RGKMC&H (RG Kar Medical College and Hospital) only because of their proximity with Ghosh,” the officer said. Ghosh was posted at the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital for two years from 2016 to 2018. He was subsequently transferred to the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, where he was posted till February 2021 before taking charge of RGKMC&H. The CBI’s probe also revealed how Ghosh “favoured” the organisation belonging to his security guard’s wife by awarding the contract of a cafe inside the hospital, he said. “Both these vendors were in Murshidabad and Ghosh brought them to Kolkata when he was made the principal of the RG Kar hospital. They were favoured for supply of materials to the hospital,” the officer said. “It is revealed that they all have been frequently in touch with each other, which corroborates the allegation of criminal nexus as in the FIR,” the CBI had said in its submission in the special court in Alipore on September 3. “Evidence collected during [the] investigation conducted so far, has revealed that Dr Sandip Ghosh, in criminal nexus with other co-accused persons, by way of illegal means, caused wrongful loss to the government and corresponding wrongful gain to himself and other accused persons,” the central agency said. The CBI also claimed that the “letters of work order used to be addressed to different officers of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, but these were never handed over to them”. The probe agency, the officer said, is also investigating the role of Ghosh’s security guard as “he was the person who used to contact vendors to sell the biomedical waste of the hospital”. In Brief: In a rare public acknowledgement by a serving Pakistani Army chief, [General Asim Munir has mentioned the involvement of Pakistan Army in the Kargil war]( as he listed the 1999 conflict with India among the major wars fought with the eastern neighbour. Munir, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was speaking during the Defence and Martyrs Day event at Rawalpindi on Friday (September 6, 2024). The Kargil conflict had brought India and Pakistan to the brink of nuclear conflagration. Pakistan says it pulled out after the U.S. intervened to cool the frayed tempers while India claims a decisive victory in the war that took place in the Himalayan heights. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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