Thousands of Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) aspirants have held a sit-in near SM Joshi Bridge in Pune since October 2, and the agitation entered its second week on Saturday. The state government told the Bombay High Court on October 7 that it had accepted three of the protesters’ four main demands. The fourth, the removal of MPSC chairman Vivek Bhimanwar, now sits with the Governor.
If you are preparing for a state services exam, three facts shape your next few months. Three main exams have no date. The fee cut and the offline-exam promise exist only as statements in court. And the government owes the court a roadmap within three weeks.
How the protest started
The trigger was the Drug Inspector recruitment exam, held offline on March 22 at six divisional centres. Complaints filed in July alleged that some applicants had the question paper on March 20, two days early, and that it circulated on social media. The commission ordered an inquiry and then scrapped the entire recruitment, Outlook reported. Police have reportedly arrested 11 suspects, including an MPSC assistant section officer accused of copying questions, according to Scroll.
Anger over that leak merged with older grievances. Candidates had objected to the evaluation of descriptive answer papers in the 2025 State Services Main exam, and on September 28 the MPSC agreed to re-evaluate those answer sheets. The same day, it postponed the State Services Main 2026 (due to start October 3), the Civil Engineering Main 2026 and the Group-B (Non-Gazetted) Main, ETV Bharat reported. The commission has published no revised dates.
What the state has conceded
Advocate General Milind Sathe told a bench of Chief Justice MC Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna that the government accepts three demands, the Free Press Journal reported:
- a mega recruitment drive for about 70,000 posts;
- exam fees capped at Rs 100;
- exams held offline.
On the chairman, Sathe said the government would forward the protesters’ representation to the Governor. Removing a public service commission chairperson follows the procedure in Article 317 of the Constitution, which runs through the President and, in most cases, a Supreme Court inquiry. The state cabinet has no power to sack the chairman on its own.
The case before the court came from two Pune residents, who asked for designated protest sites and action over road blockades. The bench called on students to end the agitation, told the state it has a duty to guarantee fair exams, and gave the government three weeks to file a roadmap on the inquiry and the recruitment process.
What it means if you are an aspirant
The Rs 100 fee and the 70,000-post figure are commitments made in court. Neither has appeared yet as a government resolution or an MPSC advertisement, and the vacancy number will only become real once departments send requisitions to the commission. Watch mpsc.gov.in for the revised mains timetable; the commission said it would announce dates separately.
The exam format remains unsettled. Outlook found the protesters themselves split: groups at SM Joshi Bridge and Shastri Road want objective papers kept, while those at Alka Talkies and Tilak Chowk back the descriptive pattern. A state committee under senior bureaucrat V Radha is reviewing the exam system, and its recommendations could shift preparation strategy for the next cycle.
Many protesters come from farm families in drought-hit districts and spend Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 a month to live and study in Pune, Scroll found, so every postponed exam stretches a family budget already under drought strain.
What it means for Pune residents
Pune Police cancelled permission for the sit-in and have booked 15 named people for blocking a road, Scroll reported. The High Court has also told the state to keep roads clear, Punekar News reported. Evening crowds are largest, so expect slow traffic around SM Joshi Bridge, Shastri Road and the Alka Chowk stretch after work hours until the agitation ends.
What to watch
The state’s roadmap falls due in late October. Aspirants will also look for the Governor’s response on the chairman, a formal fee notification, and revised mains dates. Scroll reports the next exam round, for about 6,500 posts, is due in January; any further slippage will test whether the court’s pressure produces a timetable.
Sources: Scroll, Outlook, Free Press Journal, ETV Bharat, Punekar News
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.