A day after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a probe following heated debate in the cabinet, the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) has announced to withdraw its petition filed in the Supreme Court with a plea to revise final results and merit list of all recruitment processes concluded after November 30, 2018 by deleting benefits of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) and to permit issuance of corrigendum in pending advertisements. MPSC principal secretary Pradip Kumar’s letter to the additional chief secretary (services) was on Thursday released by the state government and Public Work Minister Ashok Chavan, who heads the cabinet sub committee on Maratha quota, confirmed MPSC’s move to withdraw its petition.
State cabinet ministers including DCm Ajit Pawar, Chavan, Eknath Shinde were furious over MPSC’s unilateral move by keeping the government in the dark. They expressed serious displeasure and argued that MPSC’s petition will further create legal issues especially when the state government was working hard for lifting of an interim stay granted by the Supreme Court in September last year on the 12% quota in education and 13% in government jobs under the SEBC Act, 2018. Ministers also demanded that the MPSC Chairman should be fired immediately.
MPSC principal secretary Pradip Kumar in his letter said MPSC had sought the state government’s view on September 16 last year on the action to be taken on the pending recruitment process. However, he added MPSC did not receive any directives from the state government and therefore an interlocutory application was moved to complete the recruitment process in a time bound manner.
Further, Pradip Kumar said that MPSC decided to withdraw its interlocutory application after meeting with the Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar. It was following the state government’s decision to provide Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota benefits to the SEBC candidates.
Earlier, the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said it will be investigated whether MPSC filed its plea deliberately. "The Chief Secretary will seek information in this regard. After getting all the information, it will be known whether someone has deliberately filed a petition." He also appealed to the Maratha agitators not to take extreme steps like suicide as the state government is trying to maintain the reservation.
‘’MPSC is independent, they have autonomy. There is no reason to be upset. Now the Chief Minister has asked the Chief Secretary to inquire. We will find a way out,’’ he noted.
