Maharashtra govt tables bill to curb malpractices in competitive exams; provides for jail term, fine

MUMBAI: Amid concerns over exam paper leaks, the Maharashtra government on Friday tabled a bill in the state legislative assembly that aims to prevent malpractices in competitive examinations, and provides for a jail term of up to five years to the offenders.

The bill titled 'Maharashtra Competitive Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024', was tabled by minister Shambhuraj Desai in the lower house of the state legislature.

Under the bill, the offences related to the conduct of competitive examinations shall be cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.

According to the bill, those found indulging in unfair means and offences in the conduct of competitive examinations shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than three years, which may be extended to five years and with a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. In case of default of payment of fine, an additional punishment of imprisonment shall be imposed as per provisions of Bharaitya Nyaya Sanhita 2023.

The service provider, who is engaged by the competitive examination authorities for the conduct of the exam, will be liable to be punished with a fine up to Rs 1 crore and the proportionate cost of examination shall be recovered from such provider. It shall also be barred from being assigned with any such responsibility of conducting any competitive exam for a period of four years, the bill says.

The salient features of the bill include making provisions to avoid disruption in the conduct of competitive exams, mandates it to specify duties of paper setters, to empower the officers not below the rank of deputy superintendent of police or assistant commissioner of police to investigate the offence.

The bill was tabled in the assembly in the wake of alleged irregularities in the conduct of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate). The NEET-UG exam was conducted on May 5 and the results were announced on June 4, but they were followed by allegations of question paper leaks in states such as Bihar, besides other irregularities.

The Union Education Ministry later also cancelled the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) and NEET (postgraduate) examinations after receiving inputs that the exams' "integrity may have been compromised".

On June 21, the Centre operationalised a stringent law - The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 - that aims to curb malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations and entails provisions for a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore for offenders.