A day after the agitation by students and Chief Minister Udhav Thackeray’s apology, the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) on Friday announced a revised schedule accordingly the preliminary examination will be held on March 21.
The MPSC on Thursday had earlier scheduled the examination on March 14 but postponed it citing rising COVID-19 cases. That led to students hitting the roads in various districts and ruling and opposition parties criticizing the MPSC’s decision.
Thackeray in a Facebook live had defended the decision to postpone the exam but had assured that the new date will be announced on Friday and the exam will be held within a week’s time.
“The exam will now be held on March 21 across the state at the same centres. The students who have received hall tickets to appear for the exam (on March 14) will be considered eligible for the March 21 exam,” said the MPSC on Friday.
Further, it also announced that other two examinations scheduled for March 27 and April 21 will be held as per the schedule and there was no change in dates. The preliminary examination was to take place in April last year, but was repeatedly delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
However, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar strongly criticised MPSC saying that it did not handle the issue properly. “MPSC failed to handle the situation in my opinion. But the issue is now over as the new exam date has been announced,’’ he said.
Pawar also apologised to the students for the inconvenience caused due to the change in exam date.
Congress leader and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat also said the MPSC could have handled the issue in a better way as a large number of students have been slogging for the examination despite all odds. ‘’Even though MPSC is an autonomous body, it should have held talks with the state government before postponing the exams,” he noted.
As reported by Free Press Journal, the Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar, whose department had issued the circular about the postponement, claimed that the decision was taken at the secretary level without keeping him in the loop.
