After exam glitches and protests, Bombay High Court cancels clerk typing test

The Bombay High Court on Saturday cancelled the typing test held for the recruitment of 1,362 clerk posts after candidates complained of technical glitches at examination centres across Maharashtra, and ordered a fresh test.

The decision comes after days of protests by candidates who alleged that server and hardware failures, software lag, unexpected logouts and differences in test start times had affected their performance. The fresh test will be conducted on a schedule and at venues to be announced separately on the High Court’s website.

The Registrar (Personnel), in a notice issued on Saturday, said the August 16 typing test had been cancelled “for upholding the highest standards of fairness in selection process”. “The schedule, venue and other necessary details about the fresh Typing Test will be notified separately on the official website of the High Court, Bombay,” the notice said.

The cancellation follows complaints from candidates at several centres. The High Court registry had initially said that the technical problems reported during the examination were being examined and that candidates would be informed about the further course of action.

The recruitment process has attracted a large number of applicants. According to the notification issued on December 8, 2025, applications were invited for 1,362 clerk posts — 830 at the principal seat in Mumbai, 166 at the Nagpur bench and 366 at the Aurangabad bench in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Around 13,000 candidates qualified for the examination. The selection process consists of a 90-mark screening test, a 20-mark typing test and a 40-mark interview. Candidates are required to score at least 10 marks in the typing test, with the recruitment notification stating that a candidate who fails the typing test “will not be considered for the post of Clerk”.

It was this stage that triggered the complaints. Candidates who appeared for the August 16 test alleged that the problems were not isolated to one centre. They reported hardware and server failures, delays and software lag, unexpected logouts and test systems starting at different times.

Some candidates said the glitches affected their typing speed and performance and could ultimately result in disqualification. Aggrieved applicants subsequently staged sit-in protests outside examination centres and demanded a re-test.

Abhijeet Dipke, founder and national coordinator of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), also joined the protests. On August 16, while visiting an examination centre in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Dipke said candidates had travelled long distances to appear for the test and demanded that the re-examination not be conducted using the same faulty equipment.

Opposition politicians had also sought a re-test. The High Court had, on the day of the examination, acknowledged that technical problems had been reported at some centres. In a notice issued by the Registrar (Personnel), the court administration said the typing examination had been “smoothly conducted” across Maharashtra through the agency, but added that “few technical issues” had been reported, particularly in Aurangabad and Kalyan.