look news india
IAS Smita Sabharwal Controversy: Maharashtra trainee IAS officer Pooja Khedkar is constantly in controversies. She is accused of allegedly creating fake documents to get entry in civil services. Meanwhile, Telangana cadre IAS officer Smita Sabharwal has questioned the need for reservation for disabled people in civil services. Posting on 'X', she wrote, 'Due to working at the grassroots level, disabled people face difficulty in getting jobs in prestigious services like IAS, IPS.'
Protest on social media
IAS officer Smita Sabharwal wrote on 'X', 'With all due respect to the disabled. Do any airline companies hire disabled pilots? Or would you trust a disabled surgeon. The nature of #AIS (IAS/IPS/IFoS) is field-work, listening to people's complaints for long hours which requires physical fitness, so why reservation for disabled in this important service.' Her comment is being criticized a lot.
On this, Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi expressed her displeasure and wrote on 'X', 'This is a very pathetic scene, which should be boycotted in future as well. It is surprising to see how a bureaucrat is displaying his narrow mindset and his privilege in front of the world.'
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy wrote on 'X', “I am surprised that an IAS officer can be so ignorant about disability. Most cases of disability have no effect on the person's stamina or intelligence. But this post shows that Sabharwal is in dire need of knowledge and diversity.”
What is the controversy surrounding Pooja Khedkar?
Pooja Khedkar was an OBC and visually impaired candidate in the UPSC exam. A certificate of mental illness was also given. UPSC asked Pooja to appear at AIIMS Delhi in April 2022, so that her disability could be certified. However, she did not appear for the examination. Not only this, even after this, Pooja Khedkar refused to come for examination six times in a row.
