In a drastic move to curb paper leaks and cheating in public examinations, the Odisha Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Mohan Majhi on Wednesday approved the framing of a new legislation to curb multiplicity of exam-related irregularities.

The proposed legislation drafted by the state law department is named as Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 was accorded the seal of approval by the state Cabinet. It aims to prevent unfair means in public examinations conducted by all the recruitment examination conducting bodies in the State.

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All offences under this Act shall be cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable. Any person or persons resorting to unfair means and offences shall be punished with imprisonment ranging from three to five years and with fine up to ten lakh rupees, an official said quoting the contents of the proposed law.

The service provider shall also be liable to be punished with imposition of a fine up to one crore rupees and proportionate cost of examination shall also be recovered from such service provider. In case of default of payment of fine, an additional punishment of imprisonment shall be imposed, as per the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, he added.

“In order to prevent various forms of unfair means such as impersonation, cheating, and disrupting the examination process, leakage of information related to an exam before the scheduled time, unauthorized entry into exam halls and to maintain the integrity of public exams conducted by the Odisha Public Service Commission, Odisha Staff Selection Commission, Odisha Subordinate Staff Selection Commission, Service Selection Board, Odisha Police Selection Board, State Selection Board constituted under the Odisha Education (Selection Board for the State)RuIes,1992, Odisha Joint Entrance Examination, regulated by the Odisha Professional Educational Institution (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007, Departments of the State Government and their attached and subordinate offices for recruitment of staff, Selection Agencies Committees engaged or constituted by tie State Government, and all such other authority as may be notified by the State Government from time to time, an Act namely Odisha Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 is proposed to framed”, a statement issued by the government said.