India

Maharashtra Govt Grants One‑Year Age Relaxation for Exams, Committee Suggests 16,000+ Group C Posts

By Yohaan Varghese

The Maharashtra government approved a one‑time, one‑year relaxation in the upper age limit for recruitment examinations on Thursday, November 5, 2026, after a high‑level committee recommended the change and proposed increasing Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) Group C vacancies to more than 16,000. The seven‑member committee, led by Additional Chief Secretary V. Radha, was formed on September 4 to review the state’s recruitment system and recommend measures to improve transparency and prevent irregularities. It submitted its interim report to the government on the same day. The report noted that about 12 lakh candidates had applied for the MPSC Group C Combined Preliminary Examination 2026, for which over 5,000 vacancies had been advertised. With government departments submitting requisitions for over 11,000 additional posts, the committee recommended including these vacancies through a corrigendum. Nitin Andhale, an MPSC student movement organiser, welcomed the recommendations, saying they addressed two major demands raised by aspirants during discussions with the government. “We welcome the government’s decision on the age relaxation and the move towards recruiting for 16,000 posts. It is a good beginning, but the government must also fulfil its promise to restore the objective examination pattern,” he said. Andhale criticised the descriptive pattern used for the State Services main examination, arguing that it disadvantaged candidates from rural and economically weaker backgrounds. He claimed that coaching for descriptive examinations could cost up to ₹2 lakh, forcing aspirants to relocate to cities such as Pune and Mumbai. “The descriptive pattern is for the rich, while the objective pattern is for poor students. A student from a farming family can prepare for an objective examination while staying in their village,” he said. Describing the descriptive format as a barrier to equal opportunity, he added, “The descriptive pattern is a ‘Dronacharya’ pattern that will exploit students like ‘Ekalavya’.” He also questioned the MPSC’s capacity to evaluate descriptive answer sheets, citing the rechecking of main examination papers, and alleged that the commission lacked adequate arrangements for evaluating such papers. He said the government should reconsider continuing with the descriptive format and called for the 2025 State Services examination to be brought under the scope of the separate inquiry into alleged MPSC irregularities, claiming that it had been excluded despite concerns over the examination and its evaluation process. Referring to the government’s earlier assurance to students, he warned of renewed protests if the objective examination pattern was not restored. “If the government does not implement the objective pattern as promised when we called off our agitation, lakhs of students across Maharashtra will take to the streets,” he said. The committee also recommended retaining the existing examination pattern and syllabus for the Group C preliminary examination, which is separate from the State Services main examination pattern opposed by Andhale. It suggested announcing the main examination syllabus for newly included categories of posts at the earliest. As a precautionary measure, the committee recommended cancelling the question‑paper preparation process undertaken so far and preparing fresh papers through a secure procedure. Other proposals include stringent safeguards for printing, storing and transporting question papers and Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) answer sheets, along with police deployment, CCTV surveillance, signal jammers and trained personnel at examination centres. While the government has approved the age relaxation, the committee’s other recommendations, including the proposed increase in Group C vacancies, remain subject to further decisions.