Parliament Clears Public Examinations (Prevention Of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024

In an attempt to arrest cheating in government recruitment exams, the Parliament on February 9 cleared the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, which aims to prevent use of “unfair means” in public examinations in order to bring "greater transparency, fairness and credibility”.

Recognizing that as on date, there is no substantive law dealing with adoption of unfair means in public examinations and associated offences, the Bill says that it is imperative for "elements that exploit vulnerabilities of examination system" to be identified and "effectively dealt with by a comprehensive Central legislation".

As such, it only targets individuals, organized groups and institutions found to engage in "unfair means" for monetary gains. Candidates appearing in public examinations shall not face action under the Bill. They are to be dealt with as per provisions made by the concerned public examination authority.

First introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, this Bill was passed by the Lower House on February 6, 2024. It was preceded by a series of cancellation of competitive exams (such as the teacher recruitment exam in Rajasthan) and incidents of question paper leaks [such as the Odisha Staff Selection Commission's exam for JE (civil-main) and Central Selection Board of Constables' recruitment exam for police constables].

Today, the Bill was cleared by Rajya Sabha as well. It is ideated to serve as a model draft for States to adopt at their discretion, so that criminal elements can be prevented from disrupting conduct of State level public examinations.

Key provisions of the Bill are discussed below.

Exams falling within scope of the Bill

To reiterate, the Bill deals only with public examinations, which term refers to examinations conducted by authorities specified under the Schedule to the Bill, or notified by the Central government. These include: the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), the National Testing Agency, the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), and the Departments of the Central government and their attached offices for recruitment.

Offences under the Bill

The Bill prohibits and contemplates punishment for adoption of "unfair means", which term includes: (i) unauthorized access or leakage of question paper or answer key, (ii) assisting a candidate during a public examination, (iii) tampering with computer network or resources, (iv) tampering with documents for shortlisting or finalizing of merit list or rank, and (v) conducting fake examination, issuing fake admit cards or offer letters to cheat, for monetary gain.

It also forbids disclosure of exam-related confidential information before time and entry of unauthorized people in exam centres to create disruptions (Section 5).

Investigation of Offences

As per Section 9 of the Bill, all offences set out thereunder shall be cognizable (ie, no warrant would be required prior to arrest), non-bailable (ie, bail would not be a matter of right), and non-compoundable (ie, cases would not be open to settlement).

An officer not below the rank Deputy Superintendent or Assistant Commissioner of Police will investigate the offences and the Central government may transfer any investigation to a central investigating agency.  

Punishment for Offences

To combat malpractices associated with cheating in exams, the Bill proposes stringent punishments for wrongdoers, especially in case of organized crimes (ie where person(s) commit an unlawful activity to indulge in unfair means, under a conspiracy to pursue a shared interest for wrongful gain).

Resorting to "unfair means and offences” entails imprisonment for a period of 3-5 years, besides a fine of upto Rs.10 lacs. If a person sentenced to fine fails to pay it, “an additional punishment of imprisonment shall be imposed, as per the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023".

Persons committing an organized crime are liable to be punished with imprisonment between 5-10 years and imposition of a fine of atleast Rs.1 crore.

The Bill casts a protective cover over a person who is able to establish that any act or omission punishable thereunder was without his/her knowledge and/or that he/she exercise due diligence to prevent the same.