Explained | What is the new Public Examinations Bill?

The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Monday and passed on Tuesday. The bill aims to prevent 'unfair means' in order to 'bring greater transparency, fairness and credibility to the public examinations system'.

The meaning of 'unfair means'

The Section 3 of the bill lists 15 actions that amount to using unfair means in public examinations 'for monetary or wrongful gain'.

The acts include:

- Leakage of question paper or answer key or part thereof and 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.

- Directly or indirectly assisting the candidate in a public examination.

- Tampering with any document necessary for short-listing of candidates or finalising the merit or rank of a candidate.

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

- Creation of fake website and conducting fake examination.

- Issuance of fake admit cards or offer letters to cheat or for monetary gain as illegal acts.

Exams which are considered 'public examinations'

Under Section 2(k), a 'public examination' is defined as any exam conducted by a 'public examination authority' listed in the bill, or any other authority as notified by the central government.

The bill lists five public examination authorities including:

- The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the civil services examination, combined defence services examinations, combined medical services examination, engineering services examination.

- The Staff Selection Commission (SSC), which recruits for Group C (non-technical) and Group B (non-gazetted) jobs in the central government.

- The Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs), which recruit Groups C and D staff in the Indian Railways.

- The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), which hires at all levels for nationalised banks and regional rural banks.

- National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the JEE (Main), NEET-UG, UGC-NET, the Common University Entrance Test (CUET).

Other than these, all the ministries and departments of the central government recruiting staff also count under the new law.

Punishment under the new law

The 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, rather a magistrate will determine whether the accused is fit to be released on bail.

Punishment for anyone or people resorting to 'unfair means and offences' can be three to five years in prison, and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh.

The Section 10(1) of the bill states that if the convict fails to pay the fine, an 'additional punishment of imprisonment' shall be imposed.

Under Section 10(2), a service provider who is engaged to provide 'support of any computer resource or any material, by whatever name it may be called' for the conduct of the examination can be fined up to Rs 1 crore, along with other penalties.

The bill states harsher punishment in cases of organised paper leaks, where 'organised crime' is defined as unlawful activity by a group of people colluding in a conspiracy “to pursue or promote a shared interest for wrongful gain in respect of a public examination”.

The Section 11(1) states the punishment for organised crime will be imprisonment for a term no less than five years but which may extend to ten years and a fine which shall not be less than Rs 1 crore.

Need to bring the bill

In the recent years across the country, there have been a large number of cases about question paper leaks.

The move came against 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.

The bill also proposes a high-level national technical committee on public examinations that will make recommendations to make the computerised examination process more secure.

The objective of the bill is to bring in greater transparency, fairness and credibility to the public examination systems and to reassure the youth that their sincere and genuine efforts will be fairly rewarded, and their future is safe.