The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 that has provision for up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to 1 crore for malpractices and organized cheating in government recruitment exams was notified by the Union government and came into effect from June 21, 2024. The Bill had received assent from the President of India on the 13th February 2024. The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 mentions punishments for ”leakage of question paper or Correct Answer key”, ”directly or indirectly assisting the candidate in any manner unauthorisedly in the public examination” and ”tampering with the computer network or a computer resource or a computer system” as offences done by a person, group of persons or institutions.
Besides these, ”creation of fake website to cheat or for monetary gain”, ”conduct of fake examination, issuance of fake admit cards or offer letters to cheat or for monetary gain” and ”manipulation in seating arrangements, allocation of dates and shifts for the candidates to facilitate adopting unfair means in examinations” are also among the offences punishable under the law. ”Any person or persons resorting to unfair means and offences under this Act shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than three years but which may extend to five years and with fine up to 10 lakh,” said the Act.
A service provider, engaged by the public examination authority for conduct of examinations, shall also be liable to be punished with imposition of a fine up to 1 crore ”and proportionate cost of examination shall also be recovered” from it, according to the Act. Such service providers shall also be barred from being assigned with any responsibility for the conduct of any public examination for a period of four years. [Extracted, with edits and revisions from ”Act that Punishes Organized Cheating in Government Exams Comes into Effect” published in The Hindu dated 22-06-2024
Identify which of the following is not an unfair means relating to the conduct of a public examination?
Correct Answer :
Coaching Centre conducting mock tests for students
Solution :
The correct answer is Coaching Centre conducting mock tests for students.
Step-by-step Explanation:
1. Analyze the Passage:
According to the provided text about The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, offences and unfair means include:
- Leakage of question paper or answer key.
- Assisting the candidate directly or indirectly in an unauthorized manner during the examination.
- Tampering with computer networks, systems, or resources.
- Creation of fake websites, conducting fake examinations, or issuing fake admit cards/offer letters.
- Manipulation in seating arrangements, allocation of dates, and shifts to facilitate unfair means.
2. Evaluate the Options:
- Option 1 (Coaching Centre conducting mock tests for students): Conducting mock tests as part of normal preparation/coaching is a standard, legitimate educational activity. It is not mentioned as an offence or unfair means under the Act.
- Option 2 (The Coaching Centre offering help to its students during the examination): This falls directly under unauthorized assistance to candidates during public examinations, which is a punishable offence.
- Option 3 (Manipulation of seating arrangements by Centre Superintendent): The passage explicitly lists "manipulation in seating arrangements" as a punishable offence.
- Option 4 (Centre Superintendent indirectly assisting the candidate): The passage explicitly states that "directly or indirectly assisting the candidate in any manner unauthorisedly" is an offence under the Act.
3. Conclusion:
Conducting mock tests for preparation is completely legitimate and is not an unfair means under the law.
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