Bombay High Court imposes stay on MPSC functioning for two weeks

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday stayed the functioning of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) for two weeks.
This means, the MPSC now cannot conduct any admissions or competitive examinations for two weeks, unless it spells out the “reason” based on which it denied admissions to several women candidates, who qualified for the post of Police Sub Inspector 2016.

The MPSC had refused to grant admissions to the female candidates as they belonged to reserved category but had applied for the post, under the open caste category. The stay upon the functioning of the MPSC was imposed by a division bench of Justice Ravindra Borde and Justice Rajesh Ketkar. The judges heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Pune-based activist Ajay Munde.

In his petition, Munde has stated that the MPSC had through advertisements invited applications of eligible candidates for the post of Police Sub-Inspector in 2016. Accordingly, several candidates had applied online wherein some women from reserved category had applied under the open category which was reserved for women and sports persons. Several such candidates had cleared their preliums and had qualified for main examinations. They had also cleared the physical tests and were about to appear for the final interviews.

However, while the MPSC officials verified the forms, they realised that numerous reserved category candidates had applied under open category as per their merit. Citing a government resolution, the petition states, “While filling up the post from horizontal reservation from general category, firstly, the selection of candidate should be made on the basis of merit amongst all the candidates including the backward category candidates also.”

Aggrieved by the action initiated by MPSC, Munde petitioned the HC. Posting the matter after two weeks, the judges have asked the MPSC and the government to clarify their stand on this issue.