Overview

• On May 5, the DoPT asked the Rajasthan government to verify the authenticity of an IAS officer’s Income and Asset certificate used under the EWS quota for the 2021 Civil Services Examination.
• The verification request, triggered by an RTI complaint from AAP-affiliated activist Vijay Kumbhar, forms part of an inquiry now targeting 15 officers across IAS, IPS, IFS and IRS cadres.
• Kumbhar had flagged 22 candidates between 2015 and 2023 for allegedly submitting fake certificates spanning EWS, PwBD, OBC-NCL, SC and ST categories.
• The DoPT has sent over a dozen letters to state governments, citing information from the UPSC and anonymous departmental sources, to re-examine reservation documents.
• Former IAS officer Sanjeev Gupta recommends displaying EWS and PwBD statuses on cadre allocation orders to enhance transparency and deter future misuse.