Rajasthan’s bill to prevent cheating in exams copied from UP government, alleges Rathore

Jaipur: Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan assembly Rajendra Rathore alleged that the Rajasthan government copied the content of the bill tabled recently in the assembly from the bill enacted by the BJP-lead Uttar Pradesh government.  

During the debate on The Rajasthan Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2022, Rathore said copying the content of the bill wouldn’t work. The Rajasthan government would need to copy the way the Yogi government runs the state. There is a provision for action under NSA against those cheating in exams in Uttar Pradesh. The full provisions of the UP bill should have been there in the Rajasthan bill.

He said that many coaching centres are involved in running cheating rackets. “I showed an advertisement to the Leader of the Opposition, claiming guaranteed selection in the Patwar exam with a money-back guarantee. It shows how confident these coaching centres are. It’s not possible without support from the top government machinery,” said Rathore.

He added that 11 of the people arrested in the REET paper leak case have been released on bail as they were booked under the law prevailing at that time. It provides for an imprisonment of up to three years, so the courts had to release them on bail. Had the government acted swiftly and introduced this bill before, the culprits would have still been behind bars, Rathore said.

The recently introduced bill has strict provisions of punishment including up to 10-year imprisonment and penalties in the form of fines up to Rs 10 crore and attachment/ confiscation of property.

As per the bill, anyone associated with the examination, including the examinee, or someone impersonating, or trying to leak the question paper, or procures the paper in an unauthorised manner, or assists the examinee in public examination in an unauthorised manner, shall be punished with imprisonment between five and 10 years and a fine from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 10 crore.

If an examinee takes unauthorised help in public examination from any person or group, directly or indirectly, or from any material written, recorded, copied or printed, in any form whatsoever, or uses any unauthorised electronic or mechanical instrument or gadget, then it may invite imprisonment up to three years and a fine not less than Rs 1 lakh. In case of default of fine payment, such an examinee shall also be liable to be punished with nine-month imprisonment.