Amid the raging row over the entrance cum employment exams paper leaks, including the latest NEET, NET and CSIR, the Centre on Friday operationalised the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, that aims to curb malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations and entails provisions for a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs one crore for offenders.
The Bill received the President's assent on February 13, but was enforced only on Friday. Besides Ministry of Education on Saturday constituted a high-level committee of experts led by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The seven-member committee will make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvement in data security protocols and the structure and functioning of the NTA, the Department of Higher Education in the ministry said.
It said the committee will submit its report to the Ministry within two months. Central University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor Professor B J Rao and former director of AIIMS Delhi Randeep Guleria are on the panel.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge termed the enforcement of the anti-paper leak law a "whitewash" and asserted that the BJP cannot evade its responsibility in "promoting corruption and education mafia".
Several Opposition political parties and student associations, including the Congress, have held protests across the country over alleged irregularities in medical entrance exam NEET-UG and the UGC-NET. "More important are laws, systems, processes, and procedures to ensure that leaks don't happen in the first place," said Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh.
The National Testing Agency, which conducts the competitive exams, on Friday announced the postponement of the June edition of the Joint Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test, citing unavoidable circumstances and logistic issues.
It came two days after the agency cancelled the UGC-NET examination within 24 hours of its conduct saying the integrity of the exam had been compromised, and a massive row on NEET over alleged irregularities, with the issue now before the Supreme Court.
