Bill to Check Malpractice, Irregularities in Competitive Exams Tabled in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: A bill with provisions for a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine up to Rs 1 crore for malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Union minister Jitendra Singh introduced the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024.  was introduced by.

This proposed law will target organized gangs, mafia elements and those persons involved in malpractices as well as government officials found in collusion with them.

In recent past competitive examinations in several states have been cancelled due to question leaks and other malpractices. They include the question paper leaks of the teacher recruitment exam in Rajasthan, the Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group-D posts in Haryana, the recruitment exam for junior clerks in Gujarat and the constable recruitment examination in Bihar.

The bill also proposes a high-level national technical committee on public examinations to look into developing protocols for insulating digital platforms, devising ways and means for developing foolproof IT security systems, ensuring electronic surveillance of examination centres and formulating national standards and services for both IT and physical infrastructure to be deployed for conduct of such examinations.

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.

Addressing a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on January 31, President Droupadi Murmu had said the government is aware of the concerns of the youth regarding irregularities in examinations and it has been decided to enact a new law to deal sternly with such malpractices.