MUMBAI, Aug. 20 -- A day after candidates raised questions over the provisional merit list of its recruitment examination, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on Wednesday constituted a three-member committee to independently examine the complaints and objections and put further action in the recruitment process on hold until the inquiry is completed. The committee will be headed by former Maharashtra chief secretary Johnny Joseph, with professors Shyamprasad Kargade and Dasaka Satyanarayana Murthy of IIT Bombay as members. The move follows complaints received by MMRDA after it declared the provisional results of its recruitment drive for 235 vacant posts. A total of 26,749 candidates had applied for the recruitment, while 20,459 appeared for the online examination conducted by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The scrutiny was particularly sought for the examination for 82 junior engineer (JE) posts, after candidates pointed out that 13 of the top 20 scorers had been allotted the same examination centre in Nagpur on May 12. Candidates had also flagged significant differences between the scores of some candidates in the MMRDA examination and their performance in other government recruitment examinations. MMRDA, however, maintained that the recruitment process was conducted in accordance with the rules and procedures prescribed by the Maharashtra government and said there had been no change in its position regarding the conduct of the examination. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the authority said it had decided to have the complaints independently examined "to address the concerns and remove any doubts about the recruitment process". It has also sought clarification from TCS. Candidates with complaints, objections or comments regarding the recruitment process have been asked to submit their representations, along with supporting evidence and relevant documents, within 30 days. The committee will examine these before submitting its final report. The MMRDA JE examination was conducted by TCS on May 11 and 12 across centres in eight districts of Maharashtra. The JE recruitment had attracted 14,714 applications for 82 posts. Reacting to the decision, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) general secretary Dhananjay Ramkrishna Shinde said the Congress had been raising the issue for the past six days "for the justice of the students". He said the decision to appoint a high-level committee and stop further proceedings was a recognition of the party's demand. However, Shinde said the committee should go beyond verifying candidates' complaints and conduct an independent technical investigation into the entire examination process, including the scoring process, CCTV footage, digital logs and the role of TCS....