CHENNAI: The Centre is set to introduce the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha on Monday (July 27), seeking to tighten the existing anti-paper leak law.
The proposed legislation comes amid nationwide protests over the NEET paper leak issue and aims to strengthen the legal framework against examination malpractices through stricter penalties, faster investigations and time-bound trials.
1. Fast-track courts in every state - The Bill proposes that all states and Union Territories designate special fast-track courts to hear paper leak and examination malpractice cases.
2. Daily hearings - Once a chargesheet is filed, the fast-track courts will conduct proceedings on a day-to-day basis to ensure speedy disposal of cases.
3. Trial to finish within three months - The proposed law mandates that trials in paper leak cases be completed within three months from the date of filing the chargesheet.
4. Investigation deadline - According to Public Examination (Preventions of Unfair means) Amendment Bill, 2026, investigations into paper leak cases are to be completed within two months.
5. Punishment - Individuals found guilty of paper leaks or other unfair means could face a minimum prison term of five years, extendable to ten years, along with a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh.
6. Tougher action against organised crime - For organised examination fraud, the Bill proposes a minimum jail term of seven years and fines that can go up to Rs 10 crore.
7. More powers for the Centre - The proposed legislation empowers the Central government to constitute a special task force to investigate paper leak cases whenever necessary.
8. Wider anti-cheating framework - Apart from punishment, the Bill includes provisions on examination readiness audits, biometric registration, candidate verification, question paper security, invigilation, post-examination procedures and guidelines for providing scribes.
9. Fifteen offences identified - The amendment identifies 15 illegal acts, including leaking question papers, tampering with OMR sheets, creating fake examination websites and issuing fake admit cards.
10. Why the amendment? - The Centre says recent incidents of question paper leaks and examination malpractices have affected the transparency and fairness of public examinations. The amendment seeks to strengthen the 2024 law, which was enacted after a series of paper leak controversies but is now being tightened following fresh protests over the NEET issue.
(With PTI inputs)