Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray met Maharashtra Governor Jishnu Dev Varma on Friday to demand the immediate resignation of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) chairman and secretary over the recent paper leak.
Talking to reporters here, the former minister warned that protests by students and aspirants would intensify if the officials don't step down, and called for a judicial probe rather than a special investigation team to uncover the irregularities.
The Mumbai Crime Branch is investigating the leak of the question paper of the MPSC Drug Inspector (Group-B) screening examination held in March.
MPSC aspirants recently staged protests in parts of the state, including Pune, demanding transparency in the recruitment process and action against the alleged paper leaks and irregularities in various examinations.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that the state government will take time-bound action on all demands raised by MPSC aspirants, including rechecking of examinations and SIT probes into suspected irregularities.
He also said a new committee headed by senior bureaucrat V Radha would be constituted to recommend comprehensive reforms in the examination process.
"We want the resignation of the chairman and secretary of MPSC," Thackeray said, adding that the governor has assured him that he will seek a report on the matter and take the investigation ahead.
He pointed out that the reforms cannot take place under the existing chairman and secretary because the current problem has arisen under them.
"This afternoon, we met with the Governor of Maharashtra, Jishnu Dev Varma ji, with those who exposed the paper leak and corruption in the MPSC examination. The asks were simple: 1) Judicial Inquiry into the paper leak 2) Resignation of the MPSC chairman and secretary," he later wrote in a post on X.
On Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange's hunger strike in Jalna, Thackeray accused the BJP-led state government of deceiving all communities - be it the Maratha, Dhangar, Adivasi and OBCs.
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.