The future of this generation is on the stack. Indian population is more than 1.04 crores and we don’t have enough sources to complete requirements of all the citizens. According to current data the major factor of this population is the young generation. They play a significant role in the growth of our country. Due to the increasing number of population we are struggling with unemployment and poverty. This is the main reason for the increased cut throat competition in every exam. Students who are securing 99 percentile are unable to get the desired package or jobs. The frustration in the youths is growing day by day. The main reason for their dissatisfaction is the examination process and increasing number of discrepancies in these years. After giving their hundred percent due to the corruption in the process of exams their future is on stack. Parliament established a strict new regulation in February to prohibit paper leaks, which led to the cancellation of the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), the first publicly administered exam to be cancelled nationally.
On June 19, UGC-NET 2024 was cancelled after the Union Home Ministry discovered that the “integrity of the examination may have been compromised”. The UGC-NET exam is a prerequisite for admission to PhD programs and for applying to teach at an entry-level at an Indian institution. It was taken up by over 9 lakh students in 317 cities. What specifically annoying is implementation of India’s legislation on anti-unfair means law , and its prescribed penal provisions.
The law prohibiting ‘using unfair means in public examinations in India’.
The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, was introduced in the 17th Lok Sabha on February 5. It was passed the following day, and by Rajya Sabha on February 9. The Bill aims to prevent “unfair means” in order to “bring greater transparency, fairness and credibility to the public examinations system”.
Nature and meaning of Employing “unfair means”?
At least fifteen Acts are listed in Section 3 of the Act as constituting the use of unfair tactics in public examinations “for monetary or wrongful gain.” These offences include: “accessing or taking possession of a question paper or an Optical Mark Recognition response sheet without authority”; “tampering with answer sheets, including Optical Mark Recognition response sheets”; “leaking of question paper or answer key or part thereof” and conspiring to cause such leakage; “providing solution to one or more questions by any unauthorised person during a public examination”; and “directly or indirectly assisting the candidate” in a public examination.
The list of prohibited behaviors in this section also includes “making up a fake website,” “conducting a fake examination, issuing fake admit cards or offer letters to cheat or for monetary gain,” “tampering with any document necessary for short-listing of candidates or finalizing the merit or rank of a candidate,” and “tampering with the computer network or a computer resource or a computer system.”
What penalties does the law stipulate for breaching it?
According to Section 9 of the Act, all offences shall be cognizable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable. This means that an arrest may be made without a warrant and that the decision to release an accused person on bail will be taken by a magistrate rather than on an isfsue of right.
A non-compoundable offense is one for which the complainant cannot withdraw the case, even after reaching a compromise with the accused; instead, a trial is required.
“Any person or persons resorting to unfair means and offences” may be punished with a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh in addition to three to five years in prison. Section 10(1) states that “an additional punishment of imprisonment shall be imposed, as per the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023,” in the event that the criminal fails to pay the fine.
A service provider who is hired to offer “support of any computer resource or any material, by whatever name it may be called” for the examination’s conduct may be subject to fines under Section 10(2) of up to Rs 1 crore, in addition to additional penalties.
Under the Act, “organized crime” is defined as illegal behavior by a group of people conspiring “to pursue or promote a shared interest for wrongful gain in respect of a public examination,” and it imposes heavier penalties in cases of organized document leaks.
According to Section 11(1), those found guilty of organized crime face a fine “which shall not be less than one crore rupees” and “imprisonment for a term not less than five years but which may extend to ten years
The need for introducing the bill.
In recent years, there have been numerous instances of question paper leaks in competitive and recruitment tests all throughout the nation; the UGC-NET leak and the numerous questions that have been brought up regarding NEET-UG in recent weeks are examples of this regrettable tendency.
Before these recent events, it was discovered that during the previous five years, there had been at least 48 cases of paper leaks in 16 states that affected the recruiting process for government employment, affecting the lives of at least 1.51 crore applicants for roughly 1.2 lakh seats.
“Malpractices in public examinations lead to examination delays and cancellations, adversely impacting the prospects of millions of youth,” stated the Bill’s Statement of Objects and Reasons. There isn’t yet a clear substantive law that addresses the use of unfair tactics or offenses committed. It is essential that components that take advantage of holes in the examination system are found and addressed by a thorough central law.
The statement went on to say, “The purpose of the Bill is to convince the youth that their true and genuine efforts will be fairly rewarded and their future is safe by bringing greater openness, fairness, and credibility to the public examination systems. “The Bill is aimed at effectively and legally deterring persons, organised groups or institutions that indulge in various unfair means and adversely impact the public examination systems for monetary or wrongful gains.”
It clarified that “Candidate as defined in the Bill shall not be liable for action within the purview of the Bill and shall continue to be covered under the extant administrative provisions of the concerned public examination authority.”
Under the Act, the Examination service providers also attracts liability and if failing to report lead to, probable offences and fine up to Rs one crore. Additionally, senior officials could also be punished under various offences as prescribed. Finally anti paper leak law comes into effect with hefty fines and imprisonment. This is really a sad reality and it must be handled with utmost care and for this we have to ensure that tampering would be detected by keeping record from question paper setting to declaration of result by using some art encryption techniques.
GPS tracking techniques must be used for the transport of question paper physically reaching the examination centers and we must also ensure the security of storage facilities 24/7 CCTV cameras must be installed to ensure the supervision strictly in the examination centers. And so that it might reviewed at later stages and finally the Act must be rigorously enforced.
Mohit is Assistant Professor Law, Geeta Institute of Law, Panipat and Dr. Alaknanda Rajawat is Assistant Professor Law, Jagannath University Jaipur
