Lok Sabha passes Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill

Parliament House. File Pic/PTI

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, to keep check malpractices in government recruitment exams. The bill is to deal sternly with malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations with provisions for a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine up to Rs 1 crore, news wire PTI reported.

However, students and candidates will not be under the purview of the proposed law to check malpractices in examinations, Union minister Jitendra Singh told Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The bill was introduced in the house on Monday.

Piloting the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, Union minister Jitendra Singh said the proposed law is meant to safeguard the interest of meritorious students and candidates. The Lok Sabha passed the Bill after rejecting some amendments proposed by opposition members.

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The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, introduced by Singh, mentions "leakage of question paper or answer key", "directly or indirectly assisting the candidate in any manner unauthorisedly in the public examination" and "tampering with the computer network or a computer resource or a computer system" as offences done by a person, group of persons or institutions.

The bill will allow against organised gangs, mafia elements and those indulging in malpractices and will not even spare government officials found in collusion with them.

The bill was moved in the Lok Sabha in the backdrop of cancellation of a series of competitive tests such as the teacher recruitment exam in Rajasthan, Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group-D posts in Haryana, recruitment exam for junior clerks in Gujarat and constable recruitment examination in Bihar following question paper leaks, PTI report said.

Addressing a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament at the beginning of the Budget session on January 31, President Droupadi Murmu had 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.

(With PTI Inputs)