RANCHI: Jharkhand has become the latest state to promise jail terms and fines to those caught cheating in recruitment examinations.
‘The Jharkhand Competitive Examination (Measure for Control and Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2023’ was passed during the monsoon session of Jharkhand Assembly.
As per the bill, if an examinee is caught cheating or making others cheat, they could be sentenced to a period of one year in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh.
For second-time offenders, the jail term could go up to three years and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh. There is also a provision of a fine up to Rs 2-10 crore for any kind of misconduct by coaching centers and other educational institutions in addition to imprisonment for 10 years up to a life term.
If the charge sheet is filed against any candidate in the court, they will be barred from appearing in any examination for 2 to 5 years. And if they are convicted by the court, the candidate will not be able to appear in the examination for 10 years. Notably, there is a provision of sending the candidate and the agencies to jail without any preliminary investigation and registration of an FIR in case they are caught adopting unfair means during competitive examinations, which was opposed strongly by the opposition parties.
BJP and AJSU MLAs walked out in the House tearing a copy of the bill and saying that they will go to Raj Bhavan and Court against the bill. BJP MLA Amar Kumar Bouri said it will lead to harassment for the job aspirants and give the opportunity to corrupt officials to misuse the law. “Quantum of punishment provided in the bill is up to life imprisonment and fine up to Rs 10 crore, which needs reconsideration as it may spoil the career of a job aspirant for one mistake of recruitment agencies,” said Bauri.
It is wrong to give immunity to erring government officials taking their acts as taken in ‘good faith’, he added. CPI (M-L) legislator Vinod Singh also supported them and advised sending the bill to the select committee for reconsideration. Chief Minister Hemant Soren supported by parliamentary affairs minister Alamgir Alam, speaking in favour of the bill, said that it was in the interest of lakhs of honest students, and further added that the bill has been introduced and passed by several other BJP-ruled states.
Rs 5 lakh fine
As per the bill, if an examinee is caught cheating or making others cheat, they could be sentenced to one year in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh. For second-time offenders, the jail term could go up to three years and a fine of Rs 10 lakh. There is a provision of fines up to Rs 2-10 crore for misconduct by coaching centers.