The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 is a central Act of Parliament designed to curb paper leaks, cheating, and organized malpractices in national recruitment and entrance examinations. The Act was introduced following widespread concerns over repeated instances of cheating and paper leaks in major public examinations, such as the NEET-UG, which compromised the integrity of the merit-based selection process. The Bill was published on February 5, 2024, passed by Parliament on February 9, 2024, received Presidential assent on February 12, 2024, and was brought into force by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on June 21, 2024.
The Act works by broadly defining and penalizing "unfair means," which includes unauthorized access or leakage of question papers, tampering with computer networks, falsifying merit lists, and conducting fake examinations. It applies to public examinations conducted by scheduled central bodies like the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs), and the National Testing Agency (NTA).
A key mechanism is the imposition of stringent penalties on individuals and service providers. Individuals involved in unfair means face imprisonment between three and five years and a fine up to ₹10 lakh. For organized crime, the punishment is harsher, with imprisonment between five and ten years and a minimum fine of ₹1 crore. Service providers, such as IT vendors, face fines up to ₹1 crore, recovery of the examination cost, and a four-year ban from conducting public examinations if found guilty of malpractices. All offenses under the Act are designated as cognizable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable. The Act connects to the broader legal framework, with the punishment for default of fine referencing the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, or the Indian Penal Code until the former is enforced. The Act did not replace a single central law but created a dedicated legal framework, though states like Uttar Pradesh and Odisha have their own anti-cheating laws, some of which were recently amended in 2024 and 2025 respectively, to introduce similar stringent penalties.