President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday gave her assent to Bill aimed at checking malpractices in entrance examinations.
The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, as it is known, was introduced in Lok Sabha on February 5, and passed on February 6.
The Bill aims to prevent “unfair means” in order to “bring greater transparency, fairness and credibility to the public examinations system”.
What is unfair means? Unfair means in public examinations implies action done “for monetary or wrongful gain”. These include leaking question paper, colluding in such leakage; accessing or taking possession of question paper or an Optical Mark Recognition response sheet without authority; tampering with answer sheets including Optical Mark Recognition response sheets; providing solution to one or more questions by any unauthorised person during a public examination, and directly or indirectly assisting the candidate in a public examination.
Which exams come under this bill? Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the Civil Services Examination, Combined Defence Services Examinations, Combined Medical Services Examination, Engineering Services Examination, etc.; (ii) the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), which recruits for Group C (non-technical) and Group B (non-gazetted) jobs in the central government; (iii) the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs), which recruit Groups C and D staff in the Indian Railways; (iv) the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), which hires at all levels for nationalised banks and regional rural banks (RRBs); and (v) National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the JEE (Main), NEET-UG, UGC-NET, the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), etc.
Apart from these designated public examination authorities, all “Ministries or Departments of the Central Government and their attached and subordinate offices for recruitment of staff” will also come under the purview of the new law.
What is the punishment for violations? Section 9 of the Bill states that all offences shall be cognizable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable — which means that an arrest can be made without a warrant and bail will not be a matter of right. Punishment can be three to five years in prison, and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh.