With the practice of unfair means in examinations on the rise, the State Government is mulling amending the Odisha Conduct of Examinations (OCoE) Act, 1988 with stricter punishments against the culprits, said sources.
The recent incident of question paper leak in the Plus Two examinations has not only embarrassed the Government but also left the industrious students suffering.
According to departmental sources, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had earlier asked Minister of Higher Education Badri Narayan Patra to bring in reforms in the examination system and ensure amendments in the Act to deal with the wrongdoers. Patra held discussions with senior officials of his department and advised them to go ahead with various reforms in the conduct of examinations.
Higher Education Principal Secretary Gagan Kumar Dhal has initiated consultations in this regard with top officials of the School & Mass Education Department and Employment and Technical Education & Training (ETE&T), including Commissioner-cum-Secretary ETE&T Chandra Sekhar Kumar and Commissioner-cum-Secretary School & Mass Education Usha Padhee.
According to sources, whoever adopts malpractices at the examination centre, helps students use unfair means, mishandles question papers, answer books and mark foils, manipulates data, mark and result-sheets, after being found guilty, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a minimum of three years and maximum up to seven years and shall also liable with a fine up to Rs 1 lakh.
If it is found that mass copying has taken place or question paper is leaked then the Centre Superintendent and the head of the institution shall be held responsible for abetting the crime and they shall be punished accordingly.
Once the amendment gets nod from the State Cabinet, the proposed Bill will be placed in the State Assembly for its adoption in the next session. In the meantime, the monsoon session of the Assembly has been convened on August 20, which will continue till August 27.
Department of Higher Education officials are working overtime to give a final shape to the Odisha Conduct of Examination (Amendment) Bill, 2013 to present it to the State Cabinet, said sources.