DoP&T rejects RTI plea for data on disabled UPSC candidates’ certificates, Maharashtra Congress leader says will file PIL.

Indian Express: Pune: Sunday, October 13, 2024.

Akshay Jain, the general secretary of Maharashtra State Youth Congress, filed an RTI plea in light of the Puja Khedkar controversy.

Maharashtra Youth Congress leader Akshay Jain has said that the Department of Personnel & Training (DoP&T) has denied his request under the Right to Information (RTI) Act for details of the disability certificates of candidates selected in the Civil Services Exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. Jain, the general secretary of Maharashtra State Youth Congress, has said that he will now file a public interest litigation before the Supreme Court on this matter.

The DoP&T said the information sought by Jain “contains the personal information of the third party, the disclosure of which may cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual”.

Jain had initially filed an RTI plea with the UPSC on July 22 in light of the Puja Khedkar controversy. Khedkar was discharged as an IAS probationer by the UPSC in September due to alleged forgery in certificates and multiple attempts to crack the service by changing her name.

“IAS officers are public officials so their disability certificates cannot be a private matter. I filed an RTI with the UPSC to obtain the disability certificates of candidates under the disability quota from 2016 to 2024 and a list of their allotment, which was then partially transferred to DoP&T. UPSC said the allotment details for handicapped candidates are not separately maintained but are a part of the CSE result available online, and the DoP&T refused to provide the disability certificates on grounds of privacy,” he said. The UPSC replied to Jain’s plea on August 21 and the DoP&T on September 3.

“I filed this application after listening to discussions on people taking unfair advantage of the disability quota after the Puja Khedkar incident. Even the UPSC’s press release dated July 19th mentions that Khedkar changed her parent’s name, photo, etc to appear for multiple attempts but does not say she faked her disability certificate. This shows that UPSC has something to hide,” he alleged.