The Maharashtra government on Wednesday, 26 August, announced that all examinations of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) have been postponed until further notice in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Due to the COVID crisis, all examinations of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) stand postponed till a further date. The revised schedule will be announced in due course,” tweeted the Chief Minister’s Office.
The exam was scheduled to be held on 5 April but was later postponed to 13 September. However, to avoid a clash with the National Eligibility cum Entrance Exam, also scheduled to be held on the same day, the MPSC exam has now been postponed to 20 September.
The state government has now decided to postpone the exam until further notice.
At an opposition meeting of chief ministers hosted by interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Thackeray criticised the Centre’s move to conduct the JEE and NEET 2020 exams in September during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If exams couldn’t be conducted in June and July, how can they be conducted in September when the number of cases are still on the rise.”Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray
He added that the state’s Cabinet minister – also his son – Aaditya Thackeray had written to PM Modi urging him to count the academic year from January 2021, instead of June or July 2020.
The meeting comes after several states, including West Bengal, Maharashtra, Delhi and Odisha wrote to the Centre, asking it to postpone these two entrance examinations amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The pushback from states notwithstanding, Union Minister for Education Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal on Tuesday, 25 August, said that the verdict of the Supreme Court, which had dismissed a petition seeking postponement of JEE Main & NEET, should be respected by all.
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