Mumbai: A task force appointed to review and reform Maharashtra Public Service Commission’s recruitment examination process is considering recommending a single registration portal for candidates taking multiple govt recruitment exams and may also propose a standardised examination process for the next five years.Task force chairperson V Radha, who is additional chief secretary in the general administration department, said on Tuesday that the panel had interacted with more than 1,500 aspirants and received around 30,000 emails containing suggestions. It met around 200 aspirants from Konkan division alone on Tuesday. “An in-depth study of various stages of the examination process will be conducted and a report will be submitted to the govt,” she said. The report is expected to be submitted by Dec.The panel, appointed early this month, is planning to bring in reforms covering question-paper quality, delays in conducting exams, evaluation methods and transparency, providing advance information on the changes in exam, as well as digitalisation of the process to some extent.Among the important suggestions from aspirants were a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the next five years and a single registration system, under which candidates would register once and use the same credentials to apply for multiple govt exams.The committee is also discussing with the central govt whether the state’s registration system could cover examinations for central govt vacancies.On Monday, MPSC postponed three major exams scheduled from Oct 3 amid protests, concerns over evaluation methods, and demands for greater transparency in the recruitment process. The exam shifted to a descriptive pattern in 2025. Radha said aspirants held differing views on the pattern and that the committee would study the issue before recommending changes.Radha said, “…the background of students in each division is different and so are their problems. Various issues have also emerged through the interactions, which will certainly be useful while preparing the report…” The chairperson said students also raised problems specific to examinations conducted by different departments. “Therefore, issues will be studied examination-wise and division-wise. Along with this, the recruitment processes of UPSC and other states will also be studied. The root causes of the problems will be identified through discussions with the secretaries of the concerned departments…”The panel will examine examination centres, infrastructure and security arrangements, as well as differences in difficulty levels across batches and the process used to normalise marks. Aspirants have also proposed making question-paper preparation fully secure and digital.
