The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has cleared an Ordinance proposing tough provisions to curb paper leaks and other such irregularities in public examinations in the state.
The Ordinance is said to have been brought especially in light of paper leaks in examinations for the recruitment of police constables and review officer/assistant review officer (RO/ARO) in UP this year. The BJP-led government had to cancel both examinations.
Before that, there already existed since 1998 a UP law against paper leaks and use of unfair means in examinations, called ‘The Uttar Pradesh Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 1998’, brought by the then BJP government led by Kalyan Singh. Since then, this Act has been invoked in cases related to paper leaks and other such offences involving recruitments and examinations.
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Under the 1998 Act, an examinee caught using unfair means in any public examination would be punishable with imprisonment for a term of up to three months, a fine of up to Rs 2,000, or both.
The offense was classified as cognisable and bailable. Moreover, anyone who contravened, attempted to contravene, or abetted the contravention of its provisions — such as unauthorised possession and disclosure of question papers, leakage of information by persons entrusted with examination work, entry of unauthorised persons at examination centres, assistance to examinees by staff of institutions conducting the examinations, and using places other than designated examination centres for public examinations — would be punishable with imprisonment for a term that could extend up to a year or with a fine, which could extend up to Rs 5,000, or both, with these offences being classified as cognisable and non-bailable. The Act covered high school and intermediate examinations, along with examinations conducted by any University or any other Board or body established by or under an Uttar Pradesh Act.
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To make the law more stringent and cover other aspects such as paper leaks and solver gangs, the Yogi government has now approved the Uttar Pradesh Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Ordinance 2024, which provides for up to life imprisonment and a maximum penalty of Rs 1 crore for those involved in unfair practices and paper leaks in public examinations.
A senior police officer associated with the investigation into the current paper leak cases, said, “We needed an Act with stringent punishment for persons involved in such practices. Since the earlier Act was not stringent enough, we had to add IPC sections against the accused to make our cases stronger.”
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He added, “Under the earlier Act, there was no mention of several crimes, such as paper leaks by outsiders and solver gangs.”
Interestingly, the Kalyan Singh government had also passed the anti-paper leaks law in 1992, which was abolished by the Mulayam Singh-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government after it came to power in 1993. However, when the Kalyan Singh government returned to power in 1998, it was brought again with minor alterations.
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In the current Ordinance brought by the Adityanath Cabinet, apart from jail terms and fines, provisions have also been included for attaching the properties of those found involved. It also criminalises distribution of fake question papers and creation of fake employment websites, with the crimes recognised as cognisable and non-bailable.
The Ordinance covers exams conducted by the UP Public Service Commission, UP Subordinates Service Selection Board, UP Board, state universities, as well as authorities, bodies, or agencies nominated by them. It also covers exams for regularisation and promotion in government jobs.
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Under the Ordinance, if an exam is affected, the financial burden caused due to this will be recovered from those found to be involved. The provisions have also been made to forever blacklist companies and service providers found guilty in adversely affecting examinations.
The offences will be tried by sessions courts, and will be non-compoundable. It also has strict provisions for bail.
The UP State Law Commission had, last year, submitted to the government its report on preventing unfair activities in public examinations. Before preparing the report, the Commission undertook a critical study of the laws prevalent in both the state and other states to prepare the report on how to curb the menace of paper leaks, copying and solver-gang activities at public examinations. The Commission took suo motu cognisance of the rising cases of paper leaks and prepared the report accordingly.
A senior official of the Law Commission said that to prepare the report, they reviewed legislative measures of various states like J&K, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Uttarakhand.
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Incidentally, the Ordinance brought by the Uttarakhand government last year — The Uttarakhand Competitive Examination (Measures for Prevention and Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Ordinance 2023 — has provisions for life terms and penalty of up to Rs 10 crore, although it is only applicable to competitive exams, not school or college exams.
Meanwhile, amid the raging row over alleged paper leaks and irregularities in exams like NEET and NET, the Centre on June 24 notified the rules required to operationalise The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 — the anti-cheating law passed by Parliament in February that stipulates fine up to Rs 1 crore and a maximum jail term of 10 years.
