NEW DELHI: The government on Monday tabled the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill in the Lok Sabha to check malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations. The bill has provision for a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore for those found involved in irregularities.
Bringing a specific law to deal with examination paper leaks, the bill proposes stringent punishment which includes a minimum jail term of three years.So far there was no specific law to deal with such malpractices in public examinations conducted by the central government.
The bill, introduced by minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh, mentions offences as “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.”
Any act of cheating by “creation of a fake website” or conducting a fake examination has also been included as an offence under the proposed bill. The bill provides for higher punishment and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore for service providers if found involved in any scam related to paper leak.
The bill covers recruitment examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs), Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) and National Testing Agency (NTA) among others.
The government also introduced the J&K Local Bodies Laws (Amendment) Bill to amend various local bodies act in the Union Territory to provide for reservation of other backward classes in panchayats and municipalities.
“With this,…justice will be ensured to the citizens of OBCs of J&K for the first time after 75 years of independence,” according to the statement of objects.
Bringing a specific law to deal with examination paper leaks, the bill proposes stringent punishment which includes a minimum jail term of three years.So far there was no specific law to deal with such malpractices in public examinations conducted by the central government.
The bill, introduced by minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh, mentions offences as “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.”
Any act of cheating by “creation of a fake website” or conducting a fake examination has also been included as an offence under the proposed bill. The bill provides for higher punishment and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore for service providers if found involved in any scam related to paper leak.
The bill covers recruitment examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs), Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) and National Testing Agency (NTA) among others.
The government also introduced the J&K Local Bodies Laws (Amendment) Bill to amend various local bodies act in the Union Territory to provide for reservation of other backward classes in panchayats and municipalities.
“With this,…justice will be ensured to the citizens of OBCs of J&K for the first time after 75 years of independence,” according to the statement of objects.
