Gandhinagar: The Governor of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat, gave his assent to the bill provisioning strict actions and penalties for irregularities in public exams.

Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi on Monday said that the Gujarat Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2023 was unanimously passed in the House on February 24, and Governor Devvrat has given his assent.

The bill has the provision of up to Rs 1 crore fine and up to 10 years imprisonment for those who leak the exam paper. For cheating in exams, the guilty person will face Rs. 3 lakh fine and 1-year imprisonment. The guilty candidate will be banned from exams for two years. The bill proposes assets of guilty persons be seized. The entire expenses of the exam shall be recovered from those guilty in some cases. The offence will be considered non-bailable. Investigation into paper leak crimes shall be done by Policeman, not below the rank of Inspector, and preferably by DySP.

The provisions under the bill will not cover the exams conducted by State-funded Universities and secondary and higher secondary education boards. The Universities and State Examination boards will continue to penalize the students in cheating cases as per their rules. DeshGujarat