Public Examinations (Preventions Of Unfair Means) Act, 2024

Policy update
Geetam Acharya

Introduction

On 21st June Union government announced the enforcement of the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means ) Act, 2024 by releasing a statement: “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 1 of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 (1 of 2024), the Central Government hereby appoints the 21st day of June 2024, as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force.” This act was passed by Parliament on the 9th of February and got presidential assent on the 12th of February 2024.

Functions

The Act outlines several key provisions to curb cheating and promote fair conduct in public examinations. Here’s a breakdown of some major points:

Defining Unfair Means:

The Act broadly defines “unfair means” to include various malpractices, such as:

Leaking question papers or answer keys
Assisting candidates during exams (unauthorized communication, providing solutions)
Tampering with computer networks or resources
Impersonating candidates
Conducting fake examinations or issuing fake documents
Tampering with documents for merit lists or ranks

Penalties and Punishments:

Individuals:
- Imprisonment ranges from 3 to 10 years depending on the offense’s severity
- Fines up to Rs. 1 crore for organized crimes
Service providers:
- Fines up to Rs. 1 crore for involvement in malpractices
- Barring from conducting public examinations for 4 years
- Personal liability for directors/management involved
Organized crimes:
- Harsher penalties, with imprisonment between 5 and 10 years and a minimum fine of Rs. 1 crore
- The institution involved can face property attachment and forfeiture

Empowering Authorities:

Conduct surprise checks at exam centers and seize electronic devices if suspected foul play
Blacklist service providers found guilty of malpractices
Share information and coordinate across agencies to effectively tackle organized cheating

Additional Measures:

Establishing specialized courts for speedy trial of offenses
Promoting public awareness about the bill and its implications.

Developments

Enforcement of the act after leaks of two of the biggest exams in the country gave rise to questions regarding the reason behind the delay. The Act was passed to prevent unfair means but what matters if the act has been passed after unfair means have already been practiced. An Act that is passed by Parliament can be on such that the government will retain it and decide on another date to bring it to the notice of Parliament. If an Act does not contain such a provision, the Act obtains legal force as soon as it receives the President’s signature.

It is also important to note at some times, the Act will also provide for the coming into operation of the Act to be on a date specified by the Act. Parliament authorizes this power to the government so that the government can put appropriate measures, structures, and institutions in place to implement the Act. Therefore, Section 1 (2) of The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 also confirms that it will be effective from such date as the central government may specify by notification in the official gazette. The government also did this by fixing 21 June as a date when various provisions of the Act shall take effect.

According to section 16(1) of the Act, the Centre has to make rules which have to be notified in the official gazette for the implementation of the provisions of the Act. Section 16(2) provides that such rules may contain provisions of how and in what manner public examinations may be conducted, as well as any other matter touching on the examinations that may be prescribed. Section 17 provides that each rule made under the Act is to be laid before each house of parliament while it is sitting for a total of 30 sitting days to be approved.

The delay in notifying the Act would have been justified if the government had framed Rules in the period intervening between the passing of the Act and notification. Since the general election to Parliament hindered the formation of mechanisms and setting of Rules, there was no need to notify the Act on June 21. It could have waited for the laying of Rules in the next parliamentary session if it had anticipated the move of the other House. Without such Rules in the Act, several provisions of the Act would be of little application in the country.

Instances of Question Paper Leaks

Examination malpractices in India are not new, characterized by numerous high-profile incidents that have exposed the vulnerabilities and loopholes in the system. These malpractices range from leakage of question papers to impersonation and bribery, affecting the integrity of examinations at various levels.

CBSE Paper Leak (2018)

The CBSE paper leak in the year 2018 was one of the biggest examination scandals that was reported in recent years. The Mathematics paper of Class 10 and the Economics paper of Class 12 were leaked at the social networking sites before the actual dates of examinations and it caused troubles for more than two millions of students. This fuelled the already aggrieved students, parents, and educators into calling for strict & appropriate measures to be taken in order to ensure the prevention of such occurrences in the future.

Police introduced the CBI in the case to investigate the leakage, and based on the leakage that unfolded through the pages, another network that circulated the papers through the Use of the WhatsApp group was unveiled. It was an eye-opener in the aspect of security in the examination process, as well as the laxity in penalties meted on those involved in fraudulent activities concerning examinations.

Vyapam Scam (2013)

The case of Madhya Pradesh Vyapam exam fraud was one of the largest and complex scandals in the examinations in India. It was a major aftermath relating to cheating in the entrance examinations for the medical and various other professional courses conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB).

Some of the practices adopted included impersonation, offering of gifts to some people and altering records. More than 2000 people including politicians, civil servants, and touts have been accused in the scam. That is why the Supreme Court of India launched a CBI investigation, as a result of which many arrests and trials were carried out. The Vyapam scam painted the examination system a massively corrupt entity in need of major overhauls to purge the vices.

There have been a very large number of cases of question paper leaks in recruitment exams across the country in recent years.
At least 48 instances of paper leaks in 16 states over the last five years, in which the process of hiring for government jobs was disrupted. The leaks touched the lives of at least 1.51 crore applicants for about 1.2 lakh posts.

Malpractices Lead to Delay in Examinations:

Malpractices in public examinations lead to delays and cancellation of examinations, adversely impacting the prospects of millions of youth.
At present, there is no specific substantive law to deal with unfair means adopted or offenses committed.
Identifying and effectively addressing elements that exploit vulnerabilities within the examination system is crucial through comprehensive central legislation.

To Bring Greater Transparency:

The objective of the Bill is to bring greater transparency, fairness, and credibility to the public examination systems and to reassure the youth that their sincere and genuine efforts will be fairly rewarded and their future is safe.
The Bill is aimed at effectively and legally deterring persons, organized groups, or institutions that indulge in various unfair means and adversely impact the public examination systems for monetary or wrongful gains.

Emerging Issues

1. Implementation Across Diverse Regions: A major challenge is to achieve compliance with the Act across various geographical and administrative areas of the country. The scale, availability, and capacity of resources, infrastructures, and officials as well as coordination among them may impact the measures required by the Act.

2. Technological Infrastructure: Paying for the required technological needs including the creation of an examination system that can only be compromised with significant difficulty can be relatively expensive. As for the role of security, it must be said that smaller examining bodies and institutions can experience difficulties in implementing such enhanced registration and verification methods as biometrics and central controls.

3. Resistance to Change: This might be because the stakeholders involved in the examination activities may not accept change brought by the Act from the traditional examination practices. This can hamper the effectiveness of the above measures and translate to the Act’s performance levels on the low end.

Way Forward

Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 is a great stride towards the fight against unfair means in public examination in India. Thus, by eliminating the sources of examination malpractice and putting in place sound preventive measures, the Act serves to rebuild people’s confidence in examinations. However, it should be noted that to achieve them, involvement, coordination, evaluation, and sustenance initiatives must be collective engagement from all concerned parties and value systems to practice and keep up a high standard of fairness and transparency.

The provisions of the Act are extensive while the penalties for offenders are severe, this coupled with the security measures that had to be embraced has in one way or the other helped to bring down incidences of examination malpractices. The enhanced responsibility and order between the examination organizations and police stations, has facilitated efficient investigation and prosecution of the offenses. Still, the Act’s potential for changing the nature of examinations is clear, despite the issues that persist. If these difficulties and others are overcome and if there is constant enhancement of the act’s implementation in India, the public examination can be conducted honestly.

References

About the Contributor– Geetam Acharya is a Research Intern at IMPRI and an undergraduate student at Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi with a keen interest in Political Science and International Relations.

Acknowledgement– The author would like to thank Dr Arjun Kumar, Vaishali Singh, Aasthaba Jadeja, who helped throughout this article and reviewed the same.