Law to curb unfair practices in recruitment exams

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet on Wednesday decided to frame a law to prevent unfair practices in examinations for recruiting people and admission into professional educational institutions. All offences under the proposed Act shall be cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja said while briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.

Ahuja said the Cabinet has approved eight proposals including framing of the Odisha Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 on the lines of a similar Central law to curb unfair means in public examinations. All offences under the proposed Act shall be cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, he said.

Any person or persons resorting to unfair means and offences shall be punished with imprisonment ranging from three to five years and with a fine up to Rs 10 lakh, Ahuja said.

He said the agency conducting the examination will also be liable to be punished with imposition of a fine up to Rs 1 crore and the proportionate cost of examination shall also be recovered from such service provider. In case of default of payment of fine, an additional punishment of imprisonment shall be imposed, as per the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, he added.

The proposed law will apply to public exams conducted by different government agencies including the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) and Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE), Odisha Staff Selection Commission, Odisha Subordinate Staff Selection Commission and Odisha Police Selection Board.

The Cabinet has also approved four proposals worth Rs 1,823 crore for the development of animal husbandry including ‘Goal for Management and Treatment of Animals’ (GOMATA) scheme.

The scheme will be implemented in the State for 3 years from the current financial year (2024-25) with a total budget outlay of Rs 342.65 crore, the Chief Secretary said. The implementation of the scheme will facilitate phase-wise vaccination of 2.5 crore and treatment of 1.30 crore livestock animals annually.

Similarly, the State government has decided to implement another scheme named as “Prani Sampad Samruddhi Yojana (PSSY)” with a total budget outlay of Rs 1031.19 crore for 5 years (2024-25 to 2028-29) to enhance meat and egg production, he said.

The government has also decided to spend Rs 696.21 crore for development of various infrastructure in the fishery sector and Rs 449.71 crore for development of infrastructures for animal resources in three years (2024-25 to 2026-27), Ahuja said.

Another State sector umbrella scheme ‘Mukhyamantri Maschyajibi Kalyan Yojana (MMKY)’ was also approved by the Cabinet. The scheme with 17 sub-schemes will be implemented in the State from 2024-25 to 2028-29 with a total budget outlay of Rs 2239 crore. The scheme will benefit 6,67,500 fishers and 7,32,500 WSHG members in the next five years, he added.

Further, he said, the State government has decided to extend the existing Water Sector Infrastructure Development Programme (WSIDP) with an estimated cost of Rs 9,652.24 crore for a period of five years from the current financial year 2024-25 to accelerate the pace of irrigation development in the State.