The act punishing organised cheating in government examinations has come into force

Live Hindi News :- The central government has announced that a law has come into force that will punish those involved in exam malpractice, including leaking of government exam question papers, with up to 3 years in jail. In a notification issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Friday, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Practices) Act, 2024, the Central Government has fixed the date on which this Act will come into force. Accordingly, this Act will come into force from June 21, 2024.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has published details of what acts are offences under the Act and the penalties for them. Accordingly, leaking question papers, publishing answers, directly or indirectly helping a candidate in an unauthorized manner during a public examination, tampering with computer networks, etc. are punishable offences under this Act. Any person, group or organisation involved in this criminal activity will be prosecuted under this Act.

Apart from these, the offences punishable under this Act include creation of fake website for fraud or monetary gain, conduct of fake examination, banking of fake admit cards, issuance of fake offer letters, malpractices in allotment of seats, malpractices in allotment of examination dates and transfer of candidates. The person or persons committing the offence under this Act can also be punished with imprisonment of at least 3 years. It can be extended to 5 years. Apart from this, a fine of up to Rs. 10 lakh will be imposed.

According to this act, if the service provider conducting the exam is involved in irregularities, a fine of up to Rs. 1 crore will be imposed on it. Such service providers will also be debarred from being given the responsibility of conducting any public examination for a period of 4 years, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) announced.