Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday, 22 September announced that Maharashtra will soon roll out a large-scale government recruitment drive conducted through competitive examinations, even as protests over paper leaks continue to roil the state's public hiring ecosystem. The announcement came after the weekly cabinet meeting in Mumbai.

Committee on the Ground

A task force headed by Additional Chief Secretary V. Radha is currently touring Maharashtra, engaging students and stakeholders to gather firsthand feedback on examination processes. Fadnavis expressed confidence that the committee's forthcoming recommendations will lay the groundwork for a more transparent and student-friendly system.

A key demand emerging from student interactions is a return to the objective (multiple-choice) pattern from the descriptive format that was introduced earlier on the recommendation of the Dalvi Committee. The government has indicated it remains open to this change, pending the V. Radha Committee's final report.

Record Vacancies and MPSC's Role

Acknowledging widespread complaints over low vacancy counts in Group 'C' posts, Fadnavis assured that the administration intends to recruit record numbers across Group 'C' and other cadres. The government will also decide soon whether to create an independent recruitment framework for local bodies or route those recruitments directly through the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC).

Zero-Leak Framework and OMR Pattern

Task Force Chairperson V. Radha confirmed that competitive examinations will not be held online in the coming year. Instead, they will revert to the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet format, with standardised operating guidelines being framed to ensure uniformity. To achieve a zero-leak environment, the committee plans to deploy advanced technology across question creation, printing, transport, and distribution.

A key innovation under evaluation is an encrypted 'e-question bank' system under which even the individuals who write examination questions would not know which exam their questions will feature in — a structural safeguard designed to close loopholes exploited in past leak incidents.

What Students Are Demanding

MPSC aspirants have urged the task force to publish and strictly adhere to an annual examination calendar, stressing the need for procedural stability without frequent policy reversals. Pre-declaration of minimum vacancy counts across cadres was also strongly recommended by student groups.

Other demands include rigorous quality checks on question papers and answer keys, standardised evaluation metrics and reviewer audits, a unified online portal for candidate queries and objections, and a single-window system for one-time registration and fee payment across all state examinations. Participants also called for clean restrooms, drinking water, and proper seating at test centres — underscoring long-standing infrastructure concerns at examination venues.

Learning from Other States

The task force is studying operational models of public service commissions in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), according to Radha. The aim is to adapt proven best practices to Maharashtra's scale and administrative context — a sign that the state is looking beyond incremental fixes toward a systemic overhaul of its public recruitment architecture.

The committee's final report, expected in the near term, will shape the contours of Maharashtra's most ambitious government hiring push in recent years.