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YSRCP MP Maddila Gurumoorthy extended its support to the recently passed Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha, stressing that the Centre aims to address state-level examination malpractices through this bill.
"We welcome this bill because in that bill there are stringent actions. Our concern is to cover state-level issues in this bill so that whoever commits offences at the state level is also punished properly," he said. Earlier, the Lok Sabha passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 by a voice vote after an extensive discussion. Replying to the debate, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology; Earth Sciences and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh said the amendments would further strengthen the legal framework to prevent unfair means in public examinations and safeguard the interests of students and youth. Jitendra Singh said the Government remains committed to ensuring the integrity, transparency and credibility of the public examination system. He said the amendments reflect the Government's openness to incorporate constructive inputs, learn from experience and further strengthen the law in order to effectively tackle organised examination-related crimes. The Minister noted that the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 was enacted to provide a comprehensive legal framework to curb unfair means in public examinations conducted by major recruitment agencies, including the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs), Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) and the National Testing Agency (NTA) for higher education admissions. He said the Act had already made offences under its ambit cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable with stringent penal provisions. Highlighting the key provisions of the Amendment Bill, Jitendra Singh said the punishment for persons resorting to unfair means has been enhanced from imprisonment of three to five years to five to ten years, while the maximum fine has been increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. For service providers involved in such offences, the maximum fine has been enhanced from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore and the period of debarment from conducting public examinations has been increased from four years to eight years. (ANI)
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