- The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, effective from June 21, 2024, imposes up to five years of imprisonment and fines up to ₹1 crore for malpractices and organized cheating in government recruitment exams.
- The Act, passed by Parliament in February, details various offences and their punishments:
- Offenses include:
- Leakage of question papers or answer keys
- Unauthorized assistance to candidates
- Tampering with computer networks, resources, or systems
- Creation of fake websites for cheating or monetary gain
- Conduct of fake examinations, issuance of fake admit cards or offer letters
- Manipulation of seating arrangements, dates, and shifts to facilitate unfair means
- Punishments:
- Individuals involved face imprisonment of 3 to 5 years and fines up to ₹10 lakh.
- Service providers engaged by public examination authorities may be fined up to ₹1 crore, and the costs of the examination will be recovered from them.
- Such service providers will be barred from conducting public examinations for four years.
- The UGC-NET 2024 examination is cancelled and under investigation by the CBI, and will not be covered by this Act.
Dig Deeper: Read about the mandate of the NTA and the list of national examinations under it and compare it with UPSC.
