The need for the bill arose after many competitive exams were cancelled following question paper leaks.
Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024: A bill seeking strict legal action against exam malpractices was passed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The bill seeks to deal sternly with malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations with provisions for a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore. Union Minister Jitendra Singh, while piloting The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, said its provisions are meant to safeguard the interest of meritorious students and candidates.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the government “will not allow meritorious (candidates) to be sacrificed at the altar of organised crimes” adding that the students and candidates do not fall in the purview of this bill and there will be no harm to job aspirants.
The need for the bill arose after many competitive exams like “the teacher recruitment exam in Rajasthan, the Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group-D posts in Haryana, the recruitment exam for junior clerks in Gujarat, and constable recruitment examination in Bihar were cancelled following question paper leaks.
Among other provisions, the bill also proposes a high-level national technical committee on public examinations that will make recommendations to make the computerised examination process more secure.
The national technical committee shall look into developing protocols for insulating digital platforms, devising ways and means for developing foolproof IT security systems, ensuring electronic surveillance of examination centres and formulating national standards, and services for both IT and physical infrastructure to be deployed for the conduct of such examinations.
Notably, it has been observed in many instances that organised groups and mafia elements involved in malpractices deploy solver gangs, use impersonation methods, and indulge in paper leaks.
The bill primarily aims to deter such nefarious elements and bring greater transparency, fairness and credibility to the public examination systems and to reassure the youth that their sincere and genuine efforts will be fairly rewarded and their future is safe.
Addressing a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament at the beginning of the Budget session on January 31, President Droupadi Murmu said the government is aware of the concerns of the youth regarding irregularities in examinations.
“Therefore, it has been decided to enact a new law to deal sternly with such malpractices,” she had said.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh while responding to the criticism by some opposition members that the government is centralising everything said the government believes in cooperative federalism and the bill does not attempt to centralise all the systems adding that if any exam is cancelled, efforts would be made to hold the re-examination as early as possible but stopped short of outlining any firm timeline for re-examination of cancelled exam as often such cases are examined by investigative agencies and they take their own time.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the bill talks about penal provisions and does not offer any prevention measures.
(With PTI inputs)
