Mumbai: MPSC Candidates Stage Hunger Strike At Azad Maidan, Demanding Long-Pending Appointment Letters

Mumbai, 4th October 2023: Despite a year and a half ticking by, the successful candidates of the ‘Maharashtra Civil Engineering Services Examination 2020’ are still in limbo. Even after the passage of one and a half years after the declaration of the result, the successful candidates are still waiting for their appointment letter. Therefore, vexed by the perplexing stance of the government on this issue, more than fifty successful candidates have started a hunger strike at Azad Maidan in Mumbai from Monday, October 2.

The advertisement for this examination was published on March 18, 2020, by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC). Subsequently, after the examination, the result of this exam was declared on May 31, 2022, and on August 12, 2022, department-wise recommendations were made by ‘MPSC’ to the government. But as the year and a half went by, successful candidates still did not get their appointment letters.

According to the government, the subsequent delay in issuing appointment letters to students arises due to the revocation of the state government’s decision by the Bombay High Court to give benefits to candidates belonging to the Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBC) from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. The petition in this regard was pending in the Bombay High Court, deciding the outcome of the state government’s latest order to help students in the SEBC and EWS categories.

However, the agitating students argued that, despite the ongoing legal dispute concerning the allocation of all 21 seats in the EWS category pending in court, there is reluctance from the state government’s public works department and water resources department to issue appointment letters to the other 196 successful candidates in other categories.

They also argued that within the same timeframe, appointment letters were issued to successful candidates recommended for roles in the Forest Service, State Service, and similar positions. They questioned why civil engineering exam passers are receiving stepmotherly treatment from the government, particularly when other candidates are being appointed during this period.