The Centre has notified a new law against paper leak II VYGR

Amidst the issues surrounding the NEET and UGC-NET examinations, the Center, on Friday, notified a stringent law aimed at preventing malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations. The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 was officially announced on June 21, a day after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was questioned about the implementation timeline. The minister had stated that regulations were being formulated by the law ministry.

What are the Provisions of the Act?

This Act specifies that a minimum three-year prison sentence would be imposed on any individual or persons proven guilty of leaking a document or mishandling answer sheets. This imprisonment term can be extended to five years with a fine of ₹10 lakh. Failure to pay the fine could result in additional jail time.
Exam service providers who are aware of a potential offence but choose not to disclose it may face a fine of up to ₹ 1 crore as well as recoverable examination costs. Any senior official of the service provider who is found to have approved or participated in the offence during the investigation may be sentenced to a minimum of three years in prison, which can increase to a maximum of ten years, as well as a fine of ₹ 1 crore. The law also stipulates that they might not be allowed to conduct any public exams for four years.
Under the Act, there would be no bail and all offences would be cognisable.
The provisions of the law will not apply to a person who can demonstrate that the crime was committed without their knowledge and that they made every effort to stop it.

Students have taken to the streets in the last week due to a major controversy surrounding the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), two popular public exams that lakhs of Indians take in preparation for careers in academic and medical fields. At least four guys have admitted to having leaked papers before the Bihar NEET exam. On June 19, one day after it was held, UGC-NET was also cancelled due to concerns over exam integrity, according to the Education Ministry.

Also read: NEET-UG 2024 Row Updates: The Congress Holds Nationwide Protests While SC Hears Pleas On Cancellation Of The Exam

Inputs: Agencies

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