Mumbai: Amid concerns exam paper leakThe Maharashtra Government A bill was introduced in the state Assembly on Friday that aims to prevent misconduct in schools. Competitive ExamsIt provides for a prison term of up to five years for offenders.

The bill, titled Maharashtra Competitive Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, was introduced in the lower house of the state legislature by minister Shambhuraj Desai. Under the bill, offences related to the conduct of competitive examinations will be cognizable, non-bailable and punishable. Non-mixable,

According to the bill, those found indulging in unfair means and offences in the conduct of competitive examinations will be punished with imprisonment of at least three years, which may extend to five years and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. In case of non-payment of fine, additional punishment of imprisonment will be given as per the provisions of the Indian Penal Code 2023.

The service provider appointed by the competitive examination authority for conducting the examination shall be punished with a fine of up to Rs 1 crore and the proportionate cost of the examination shall be recovered from such provider. He shall also be barred from being entrusted with any such responsibility of conducting any competitive examination for a period of four years, the Bill states. Main characteristics The Bill includes the following provisions Avoid interruptions in the operation of Competitive ExamsIt gives it the power to specify the duties of paper setters, empowering officers not below the rank of 15 years to do so. Deputy Superintendent A commissioner of police or assistant police will be appointed to investigate the crime. The bill was introduced in the assembly in the wake of alleged irregularities in the conduct of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (undergraduate). The NEET-UG exam was held on May 5 and the results were declared on June 4, but it was followed by allegations of question paper leak and other irregularities in states like Bihar.

Later, the Union education ministry also cancelled the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) and NEET (postgraduate) exams after it received inputs that the “integrity of the exams may have been compromised”. On June 21, the Centre enacted a stringent law – the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 – which aims to prevent malpractices and irregularities in competitive exams and provides for a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore for offenders.