Trainee Indian Administrative Service officer Puja Khedkar’s district training programme has been put on hold and she was ordered to return to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Uttarakhand’s Mussoorie, the Maharashtra government said on Tuesday, ANI reported.

The controversy regarding Khedkar’s appointment erupted after Pune-based Right to Information activist Vijay Kumbhar alleged that she became a civil services officer in the Other Backward Class quota. In this category, those whose parents’ annual income is more than Rs 8 lakh are classified in the creamy layer.

Khedkar on Tuesday filed a case of harassment against Pune district collector, PTI reported quoting unidentified officials.

A letter issued by state Additional Chief Secretary Nitin Gadre on Tuesday said that Khedkar, a Maharashtra cadre officer, had been relieved from the programme in view of the action undertaken against her by the civil service training institute.

The district training programme is the period during which the trainee officers are exposed to the day-to-day workings of the administration at the state and the district levels in their allotted cadres.

Khedkar has been at the centre of a controversy since earlier this month amid allegations that she sought the appointment of staffers, including a constable, as well as a separate house and car. These are facilities that she was not entitled to as a trainee officer.

She was also accused of using a red and blue beacon and a “Government of Maharashtra” sticker on her private car.

The probationary officer reportedly appeared for the Union Public Service Commission exam in 2022, claiming to be visually impaired and mentally ill. However, she allegedly did not undergo medical tests to validate her claims.

On July 11, the Union government formed a panel to look into Khedkar’s candidature claims, including those about being visually and mentally impaired and about belonging to the non-creamy layer of the Other Backward Classes. The panel has been asked to submit a report in two weeks.

The letter issued by Maharashtra’s additional chief secretary on Tuesday noted that Khedkar had been immediately recalled to Mussoorie “for further necessary action”. She was instructed to join the academy by July 23.

A day earlier, Khedkar said that it was wrong to hold her “guilty by media trial”, in response to the allegations.

She told reporters in the state’s Washim district, where she was transferred from Pune last week, that she would testify before a committee appointed to look into the allegations. “I think whatever decision the committee will take should be acceptable to all,” she said.

The IAS official’s father, Diliprao Khedkar, had unsuccessfully contested this year’s Lok Sabha election as a Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi candidate. Kumbhar claimed that his election affidavit showed his wealth to be around Rs 40 crore, The Hindu reported.

Diliprao Khedkar is a retired officer of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.

Amid the controversy, the Pune Police on July 12 registered a first information report against Puja Khedkar’s mother Manorama Khedkar, Diliprao Khedkar, Ambadas Khedkar of Ambi village in Haveli and other unidentified persons for allegedly threatening farmers in Mulshi.