Centre notifies rules under anti-paper leak law, mandates NRA to prepare SOP's
- In Reports
- 10:29 PM, Jun 24, 2024
- Myind Staff
On Monday, the Centre released the regulations for the newly announced anti-paper leak law, requiring the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to establish norms, standards, and guidelines for computer-based tests, among other things.
The rules were issued shortly after the implementation of The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, the first national law aimed at preventing the use of unfair practices in recruitment exams conducted by various public bodies.
The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on February 9 and by the Lok Sabha on February 6.
President Droupadi Murmu gave approval to the bill on February 12, turning it into a law.
The Act aims to prevent unfair practices in public examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the railways, banking recruitment examinations, and the National Testing Agency (NTA), among others.
It includes provisions for a minimum imprisonment of three to five years for cheating. Those involved in organised cheating crimes will face five to ten years of imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs 1 crore.
The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Rules, 2024, dated June 23 and made public on Monday, has provisions for "engagement of services of other government agencies by public examination authority", "preparations of norms, standards and guidelines" and "reporting of incidents of unfair means or offences" among others.
"The National Recruitment Agency, on behalf of the central government, shall in consultation with the stakeholders, prepare norms, standards and guidelines for the computer-based test mode of examination, which shall be notified by the central government," read the rules.
These should cover "standard operating procedure for registration of public examination centres", "space requirement within the computer-based test centres", "layout of the seating arrangement", "specifications and layout of computer nodes", "specifications for the server and network infrastructure" and "specifications for an electronic platform for the conduct of computer-based test" among others.
Pre-examination activities, including pre-audit for the readiness of public examination centres, candidate check-in, biometric registration, security and screening, seat allocation, question paper setting and loading, invigilation during the examination, post-examination activities, and guidelines for providing scribes, will also be part of the drafted norms.
The NRA is tasked with conducting online exams to screen government job aspirants. Pradeep Singh Kharola, Chairman and Managing Director of India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), who was assigned additional charge of the controversy-ridden National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday, was appointed Chairman of the NRA in March 2022.
The new rules allow the public examination authority to avail services of serving or retired employees of "the central government, state government, public sector undertakings, public sector banks, government universities, autonomous bodies and other government organisations for assigning duty as centre coordinator or any other public examination related duties".
They also mention provisions for reporting of incidents of unfair means or offences and "procedure to be followed in respect of public servant".
"The public examination authority, on receipt of the report of regional officer or otherwise, regarding the actions of a public servant deputed for conduct of public examination shall examine whether anything done in conduct of public examination by the public servant was in good faith...," it said.
A committee may be constituted by the public examination authority for this purpose, "which shall be headed by an officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary or equivalent and shall comprise of one senior officer from the public examination authority and an expert to be nominated by the public examination authority", the rules said.
The committee shall examine all relevant information and submit its findings to the public examination authority, it added. The rules include provisions for a format to report unfair means or offences by the venue in charge.
The personnel ministry had notified on June 21 the date on which the provisions of The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, would come into force.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into allegations of malpractice in the UGC-NET (University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test) and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET-UG) exams.
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