MPSC Group C: panel urges 16,000-plus posts, one-year age relaxation, fresh question paper

A high-level committee set up to make the state's recruitment examinations more transparent, secure and trustworthy has handed an interim report to the government. The government had formed the panel under an order dated September 4, 2026.

The members spoke to students from several departments and to other stakeholders, and went through the demands, suggestions and opinions that came up. Students had flagged some urgent matters that needed an early decision. The committee therefore chose to submit an interim report instead of waiting until its full report was ready.

The first recommendation is about the number of vacancies. Around 12 lakh candidates have applied for the Maharashtra Public Service Commission's Group C Services Combined Preliminary Examination 2026. The advertisement that is out covers a little over 5,000 posts. Since then, various government departments have sent the commission requisitions for more than 11,000 additional posts. The panel wants these added through a corrigendum, which would take the total past 16,000.

The second recommendation is about age. Responding to candidates' demand, the committee has proposed a one-time relaxation of one year in the upper age limit. It would cover every advertisement issued after January 1, 2026 whose selection process has not yet begun. Advertisements issued up to December 31, 2027 would also benefit. The relaxation is meant for all recruitment examinations, not only this one.

The panel has also asked that applications for the Group C examination 2026 be opened again. This would give a chance to those who become eligible only because of the added posts and the relaxed age limit.

On the examination process, the committee has said the current pattern and syllabus of the Group C preliminary examination should stay as they are. The syllabus for the main examination for the new cadres to be added should be announced soon.

As a precaution, the committee has recommended that the earlier work of preparing the question paper be scrapped and a fresh paper be set through a secure process. It wants strict security in the printing, storage and transport of question papers and OMR answer sheets. At the examination centres, it has called for police deployment, CCTV surveillance, signal jammers and trained staff.