What Is The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024?

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday introduced a Bill titled "The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024" to curb leaks, malpractices as well as organised malpractices in recruitment examinations like UPSC, SSC etc and entrance tests such as NEET, JEE, and CUET.

This bill will also cover entrance examinations held by the Union Public Service Commission, the Staff Selection Commission, the Railways, banking recruitment examinations and all computer-based examinations conducted by the National Testing Agency.

What Is Considered Unfair Means

The unfair means relating to the conduct of a public examination shall include any act or omission done or caused to be done by any person or group of persons or institutions:

• Leakage of question paper or answer key or part.

• Participating with others to leak question papers or answer keys.

• Accessing or taking possession of question paper or an Optical Mark Recognition response sheet without authority.

• Providing solutions to one or more questions by any unauthorised person during a public examination.

• Directly or indirectly assisting the candidate in any manner unauthorisedly in the public examination.

• Tampering with answer sheets including Optical Mark Recognition response sheets.

• Altering the assessment except to correct a bona fide error without any authority.

• Willful violation of norms or standards set up by the Central Government to conduct a public examination on its own or through its agency.

• Tampering with any document necessary for short-listing candidates or finalising the merit or rank of a candidate in a public examination;

• Deliberate violation of security measures to facilitate unfair means in the conduct of a public examination.

• Tampering with the computer network a computer resource or a computer system.

• Manipulation in seating arrangements, allocation of dates and shifts for the candidates to facilitate adopting unfair means in examinations;

• Threatening the life, liberty or wrongfully restraining persons associated with the public examination authority the service provider or any authorised agency of the Government; or obstructing the conduct of a public examination.

• Creation of fake websites to cheat or for monetary gain; and conduct of fake examinations, issuance of fake admit cards or offer letters to cheat or for monetary gain.

What comes under disruption to conducting the public examination

No person, who is not entrusted or engaged with the work about the public examination or conduct of the public examination or who is not a candidate, shall enter the premises of the examination centre, with the intent to disrupt the conduct of the public examination.

No person authorised, engaged or entrusted with the duties to conduct public examination shall, before the time fixed for opening and distribution of question papers -

• Open, leak possess or access or solve or seek assistance to solve such question paper or any portion or a copy thereof in an unauthorised manner for monetary or wrongful gain;

• Give any confidential information or promise to give such confidential information to any person, where such confidential information is related to or about such question paper for monetary or wrongful gain.

All offences under this Act, shall be cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.

• Any person or persons resorting to unfair means and offences under this Act shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than three years but which may extend to five years and with a fine up to ten lakh rupees.

• The service provider shall also be liable to be punished with the imposition of a fine up to one crore rupees and proportionate cost of the examination shall also be recovered from such service provider and he shall also be barred from being assigned with any responsibility for the conduct of any public examination for four years.

• Where it is established during the investigation that the offence under this Act has been committed with the consent or connivance of any Director, Senior Management or the persons in charge of the service provider firm, shall be liable for imprisonment for a term not less than three years but which may extend to ten years and with a fine of one crore rupees.

• If an institution is involved in committing an organised crime, its property shall be subjected to attachment and forfeiture and the proportionate cost of examination shall also be recovered from it.

The Bill was introduced in the house by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh.

Singh said, "In the recent past, many States have had to cancel or were unable to declare results of their public examinations due to adverse impact of unfair practices and means adopted by antisocial, criminal elements. These unfair practices if not effectively prevented and deterred will continue to jeopardise the future and careers of millions of aspiring youths in this country. In many instances, it has been observed that organised groups and mafia elements are involved. They deploy solver gangs, and impersonation methods and indulge in paper leaks. The Bill primarily aims to deter such kind of nefarious elements."