MMRDA puts 235-posts on hold, forms panel to probe complaints over merit list

MUMBAI: A day after candidates raised questions over the provisional merit list of its recruitment examination, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on Wednesday constituted a three-member committee to independently examine the complaints and objections and put further action in the recruitment process on hold until the inquiry is completed

MUMBAI: A day after candidates raised questions over the provisional merit list of its recruitment examination, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on Wednesday constituted a three-member committee to independently examine the complaints and objections and put further action in the recruitment process on hold until the inquiry is completed.

The committee will be headed by former Maharashtra chief secretary Johnny Joseph, with professors Shyamprasad Kargade and Dasaka Satyanarayana Murthy of IIT Bombay as members.

The move follows complaints received by MMRDA after it declared the provisional results of its recruitment drive for 235 vacant posts. A total of 26,749 candidates had applied for the recruitment, while 20,459 appeared for the online examination conducted by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

The scrutiny was particularly sought for the examination for 82 junior engineer (JE) posts, after candidates pointed out that 13 of the top 20 scorers had been allotted the same examination centre in Nagpur on May 12. Candidates had also flagged significant differences between the scores of some candidates in the MMRDA examination and their performance in other government recruitment examinations.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the authority said it had decided to have the complaints independently examined “to address the concerns and remove any doubts about the recruitment process”. It has also sought clarification from TCS.

Candidates with complaints, objections or comments regarding the recruitment process have been asked to submit their representations, along with supporting evidence and relevant documents, within 30 days. The committee will examine these before submitting its final report.

The MMRDA JE examination was conducted by TCS on May 11 and 12 across centres in eight districts of Maharashtra. The JE recruitment had attracted 14,714 applications for 82 posts.

Reacting to the decision, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) general secretary Dhananjay Ramkrishna Shinde said the Congress had been raising the issue for the past six days “for the justice of the students”. He said the decision to appoint a high-level committee and stop further proceedings was a recognition of the party’s demand.

However, Shinde said the committee should go beyond verifying candidates’ complaints and conduct an independent technical investigation into the entire examination process, including the scoring process, CCTV footage, digital logs and the role of TCS.

“Strict action must be taken against those found guilty, however, the punishment of the wrongdoers should not be meted out to the students who have passed the examination honestly. There is no protection for the guilty and there is no injustice to honest students,” he said.

MMRDA had earlier rejected allegations of malpractice, saying the examination, objection process and preparation of the provisional merit list were carried out according to the prescribed procedure. It had said TCS was selected as the examination agency under a Maharashtra government resolution that permits TCS-ION and IBPS to conduct online recruitment examinations for such government posts.

Candidates had been given an opportunity to raise objections to questions and answers between May 19 and May 23, with 340 objections received and processed by TCS by June 12. MMRDA had said the provisional merit list was being verified before the final merit list was published.

The authority said appropriate decisions would be taken after receiving and considering the committee’s final report.