Center notifies anti-cheating law amid paper leak row

The Center has notified a law to curb cheating and other malpractices in examinations (Photo: PTI)

The Center on Friday notified the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which aims to curb malpractices in public examinations.

Parliament had passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 in February during the 17th Lok Sabha, during the second term of the Narendra Modi government.

The notification of the anti-cheating law comes at a time when the government is facing criticism over a series of alleged paper leaks and other irregularities in a number of exams. NEET Medical Entrance Exam, UGC-NEET and CSIR-UGC-NEET are some of the exams under scanner.

Earlier in the day, the Union government’s National Testing Agency (NTA) had announced the postponement of the CSIR-UGC-NEET exam due to “unavoidable circumstances as well as logistical issues”. The exam was scheduled to take place from June 25 to 27.

The anti-cheating law provides for prison sentences ranging from three to ten years for a range of offenses. It also includes provisions relating to the seizure of property.

The law imposes a punishment of at least three to five years’ imprisonment to combat cheating and 5 to 10 years’ imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs 1 crore for those involved in organized crimes of cheating.

Earlier, the Ministry of Education (MoE) canceled the UGC-NET exam on Wednesday. In a post on integrity of the examination may have been compromised. He added that the case had been referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for investigation.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the Union government would appoint a high-level panel to review the functioning of the NTA in case of any lapse in holding exams. He further said that the UGC-NET exam was canceled after the document was leaked on the darknet and was circulating on messaging app Telegram.

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