New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday (February 6) passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, which seeks to prevent paper leaks and malpractices in government recruitment examinations and provides for punishment, including imprisonment of up to ten years and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore.
In his closing remarks at the end of the debate, which saw about 15 MPs participate, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said that the legislation “seeks to provide a level playing field and save the meritorious and deserving from the ordeal of being wronged by sinful operators of malpractices.”
On the need to bring in a separate legislation, Singh said that the need arose because the existing Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) does not define it.
“We have tried to define unfair means for the conduct of examinations to the best of our abilities. If the magnitude of the crime goes beyond, it will go into the domain of the BNS or the erstwhile Indian Penal Code,” he said.
The Bill comes as the issue of paper leaks in government recruitment examinations have dominated state polls as recently as the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana in December last year.
In Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had accused the then-Congress government of not acting on paper leaks and alleged that senior party functionaries were involved.
Similarly, in Telangana, the Congress had also accused the then-BRS government of leaks in exams conducted by the state’s public service commission.
According to an investigation by the Indian Express, there have been 41 documented instances of leaks over the last five years in recruitment exams across 15 states. These affected as many as 1.4 crore applicants applying for a little over 1.04 lakh posts.
Singh said that the “menace” is being felt across the country, including in Jammu and Kashmir, but claimed that since the government change in Rajasthan, where the BJP ousted the Congress government on the back of its promise to plug paper leaks, such leaks have stopped since.
What the Bill states
The public examinations under the Bill refer to examinations conducted by authorities specified under the Schedule to the Bill or notified by the Union government.
These include the Union Public Service Commission, Staff Selection Commission, Railway Recruitment Board, National Testing Agency, Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, and Departments of the Union government and their attached offices for recruitment.
According to an analysis by PRS Legislative, the Bill specifies unfair means in public examinations as including unauthorised access to or leakage of a question paper or answer key, assisting a candidate during a public examination, tampering with a computer network or resources, tampering with documents for the shortlisting or finalising of merit lists or ranks, and conducting a fake examination, issuing fake admit cards or offer letters to cheat, for monetary gain.
It also prohibits disclosing exam-related confidential information before time and unauthorised people from entering exam centres to create disruptions.
These offences will be punishable with imprisonment between three and five years, as well as a fine up to Rs 10 lakh.
The Bill provides that an offence by a service provider (an organisation that provides computer resources or any other support to a public examination authority) will be punishable with a fine of up to one crore rupees.
It also provides that in cases of organised crime related to public examinations, punishment will include imprisonment between five and 10 years, and a fine of at least Rs 1 crore.
All offences under the Bill will be cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.
‘Punishment itself a deterrent’
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the Bill has “penal measures but does not include preventive measures”.
He also said that the Bill gives “significant authority” to the Union government, “thus consolidating considerable control of investigation at [its] hands”, and that it can easily be assumed that “all kinds of opposition will be throttled with this kind of legislation.”
“Punishment itself is a deterrent and a preventive measure. This is the first step for prevention. If we don’t take even this first step, we will not be doing anything at all,” said Singh in his closing remarks referring to Choudhury’s concerns.
He also denied that the legislation attempts to “centralise the system” in any form through the legislation.
Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule, while supporting the Bill, said that the Union government should clarify its plans to tackle the “delay and cancellation” of examinations and the enforcement of a timeline for conducting substitute exams.
She also cautioned against the criminal offences in the Bill.
“I appreciate your intent. But let’s not criminalise everybody,” she said.
Singh in his closing remarks however said that no timeline could be set.
“If any examination is cancelled, it should be conducted as soon as possible. This suggestion should be well-taken,” said Singh.
“When examinations are cancelled, it is done for various reasons, either for a CBI enquiry or any other investigative agency. So it might not be possible to set a timeline, but we will try to conduct it as soon as possible.”