Amid massive controversy over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG and UGC-NET examinations, the Centre on Friday notified the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
The law aims to prevent the use of ‘unfair means’ in job examinations and common entrance tests like NEET-UG and UGC-NET.
Passed by Parliament in February 2024, the anti-paper leak law stipulates that any individual found guilty of offenses such as leaking exam papers will face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to Rs 1 crore, or both.
Furthermore, the Act includes provisions for institutions found involved in such malpractices. If an institution is found complicit in paper leaks, its property will be seized, and the proportionate cost of conducting the examination will be recovered from it.
The ‘unfair means’ in the law are defined as leaking question papers or assisting candidates during the exams by using unauthorised communication or tempering with computer networks, impersonating candidates and manipulating the merit list.
The anti-paper leak law comes into force amid massive row over the recently held NEET-UG and UGC-NET examinations.
Several candidates have alleged irregularities and paper leaks in these exams. While the issue of NEET-UG is in the Supreme Court, the Centre has cancelled the UGC-NET exam after its paper got leaked and circulated on Telegram.
A CBI inquiry is also underway in the UGC-NET paper leak case amid protests from students and Opposition leaders over the paper leak.
Moreover, the Centre had to postpone the CSIR-UGC NET exam after several aspirants raised concerns regarding the paper leak. The CSIR-UGC NET exam was scheduled to hold from June 25-27 for two lakh science students across the country.
However, days before the exam, the government reportedly recieved inputs that paper of this exam too have been leaked on dark web, promoting the government to postpone it.
Now, a new set of question papers will be prepared and the exam will be held on a new date. The government said that a detailed schedule shall be announced soon.
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