Jharkhand Competitive Examination (Prevention and Redressal of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2023

• 02 Aug 2023

Why in News?

According to the information received from the media on August 1, 2023, the state government has prepared the 'Jharkhand Competitive Examination (Measures for Prevention and Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill 2003', which will be introduced in the assembly soon.

Key Points:

• The purpose of this bill is to prevent plagiarism in examinations. After becoming a law, this bill will be applicable in the entire state.
• This will be applicable to examinations conducted by the State Public Service Commission, Staff Selection Commission, Recruitment Committees, examinations conducted by public undertakings of state government, besides examinations conducted by corporations and bodies.
• In this bill, apart from examinees, agencies involved in the process of examination, government employees leaking question papers or making public information that violates the confidentiality of the examination have been included in the category of punishable offenses.
• Apart from this, threatening the employees involved in examination duty, their family members or relatives and propagating false information and spreading rumours regarding the examination have also been kept in the category of crime.
• Provisions made regarding punishment-
• According to the provision made regarding punishment in the bill, if any examinee is caught cheating or causing it, he will be punished for three years, as well as a fine of up to five lakh rupees can be imposed on him. Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional nine months' imprisonment.
• If the candidate is caught stealing or cheating for the second time, he will be sentenced to seven years and a fine of Rs 10 lakh.
• After filing a charge sheet against the candidate in court, he will not be allowed to appear in the examination for two to five years. If convicted by the court, the concerned candidate will not be able to appear in the competitive examination for 10 years.
• Breach of confidentiality of examination by any company or agency involved in the process of examination, leaking of the question paper shall be punishable with imprisonment of not less than 10 years and not more than life. Along with this, a fine ranging from one crore to two crore rupees will be imposed. Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional three years' imprisonment.