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BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to prevent adoption of unfair means in public examination for educational institutions as well as recruitment by various government authorities in Odisha, the state cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to framing of a new legislation with provisions for strong punishment including imprisonment and hefty penalty.
Proposal for the new law, the Odisha Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, was approved at the cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
The unfair means includes impersonation, cheating and disrupting the examination process, leakage of information related to examination before the scheduled time and unauthorised entry into examination halls.
According to provisions approved by the cabinet, all offences will be cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable. Any person and persons resorting to unfair means and offences will be punished with imprisonment ranging from three to five years with a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh.
The service provider will also be liable to be punished with imposition of a fine of up to Rs 1 crore. Proportionate cost of examination will also be recovered from such service provider. In case of default of payment of fine, an additional punishment of imprisonment will be imposed, as per the provisions of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
The service provider is defined as an agency which prints question papers, provides computers and fulfils other requirement for conducting examinations. Besides, service provider will also cover agencies engaged by the state government or other government bodies for conduct of examination for recruitment and admission into various educational institutions.
The proposed Act will cover examinations 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, Odisha Joint Entrance Entrace examination.
Besides, it will also cover examinations conducted by departments of state government, their attached and subordinate offices for recruitment of staff, selection agencies, committees constituted by the state government.
The cabinet decision has come in the wake of allegations of irregularities in the Odisha Sub-ordinate Staff Selection Commission (OSSSC) computer-based recruitment examination 2024 for the positions of revenue inspector (RI), assistant revenue inspector (ARI), amin, and other posts.
Earlier in June, the Centre had announced enforcement of the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 to arrest irregularities and unfair means in entrances as well as recruitment tests by central bodies.