[06th
December 2024] In exercise of the power
conferred by section 16 of the Bihar Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair
Means) Act, 2024 the State Government hereby makes the following rules,
namely:- (1)
These rules may be called The Bihar Public
Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Rules, 2024. (2)
It shall extend to the whole of the State of
Bihar. (3)
The Rules shall come into force from the date
of publication in the Official Gazette. (1)
In these rules, unless the context otherwise
requires:- (a)
Act means the Bihar Public Examination
(Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 (Bihar Act 16, 2024); (b)
"centre coordinator" means a
representative of the public examination authority deputed at public
examination centre for coordination of activities of different service
providers and public examination authority; (c)
"Guidelines" means the guidelines
notified by the State Government from time to time; (d)
"norms or standards" means set of
mandatory requirements with regard to the conduct of public examinations, as notified
by the State Government, from time to time; (e)
Regional Officer" means an officer-in
charge, not below the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Government, designated
for the region by the public examination authority; (f)
"venue-in-charge" means a person nominated
by the examination conducting service provider to supervise, coordinate and
manage the activities of different service providers and to ensure that the
norms or standards and the guidelines notified for conduct of public
examination are complied with. (2)
Words and expressions used herein but not
defined and defined under any other law for the time being in force shall have
the same meaning as assigned to them in those Acts. (1)
When a public examination authority engages
the service of another public examination authority for conduct of public
examination the latter public examination authority shall not be covered under
the definition of Service provider; (2)
The schools, educational institutions and
other premises owned or controlled by the Central Government or State
Government, Public Sector Undertakings, autonomous bodies and other Government
Organization shall not be covered under the definition of "Service provider" (3)
If it is established that the staff
(including contractual staff) of the institution referred to in sub rule(2)
resorts to unfair means or commits an offence, he shall be dealt with in
accordance with the relevant provisions of the Act. (1)
The computer based test includes activities,
such as registration of candidates, allocation of centers, issue of admit
cards, opening and distribution of question paper at public examination
centers, evaluation and final recommendations. (2)
The opening and distribution of question
papers, in relation to computer based test means downloading the question paper
from the main server to the local server in the public examination centre, as
authorized by the public examination authority, uploading and digitally
transferring the question papers from the local server to individual computers
authorized for the candidates in the concerned public examination centers. (1)
The State Recruitment Agency, on behalf of
the State Government, shall in consultation with the stakeholders, prepare
norms, standards and guidelines for the computer based test mode of
examination, which shall be notified by the State Government. (2)
The norms, standards and guidelines shall
cover physical and digital infrastructure and activities which includes - (a)
standard operating procedure for registration
of public examination centers; (b)
space requirement within the computer based
test centers ; (c)
layout of the seating arrangement; (d)
specifications and layout of computer nodes; (e)
specifications for the server and network
infrastructure; (f)
specifications for electronic platform for
conduct of computer based test; (g)
pre-examination activities, such as pre-audit
for the examination readiness of the public examination centers ; (h)
candidate check in, biometric registration,
security and screening; (i)
seat allocation; (j)
question paper setting and loading; (k)
invigilation in the examination; (l)
post examination activities; checklist and
declarations; (m)
guidelines for providing scribes; and (n)
any other activity associated with conduct of
public examination. The public examination
authority may avail services of serving or retired employees of the Central Government,
State Government, Public Sector Undertakings, Public Sector Banks, Government
Universities, autonomous bodies and other Government Organizations for
assigning duty as Centre Coordinator or any other public examination related
duties. (1)
If any incident of unfair means or offence in
connection with the conduct of public examination occurs, the venue-in-charge
shall prepare a report along with his findings in Form 1. The report in Form-1
shall be sent to the Regional Officer through Centre Coordinator. If a prima
facie case is made out for filing of First Information Report, the
venue-in-charge shall take necessary action. Regional Officer may review the
report received and cause appropriate action to be taken, which may include
filing of First Information Report. (2)
In case, persons, below the level of
Management or Board of Directors of the service provider, resort to unfair
means or commit an offence or are involved in facilitating an offence, or fail
to report the incident as per sub- section (2) of section 8 of the Act, the
Centre Coordinator shall report the matter to the Regional Officer in Form 2.
The Regional Officer shall enquire and if satisfied that representative of any
service provider at examination center level is involved, he shall direct the
Centre Coordinator to file the First Information Report. In case, the Regional
Officer arrives at a conclusion that no First Information Report is required to
be filed, he shall record reasons therefore. (3)
In case, the Regional Officer concludes that,
prime facie, there is involvement of Management or Board of Directors of
service provider, he shall report the details of the incident, enclosing his
findings, along with Form 2 to the public examination authority. (4)
The cases referred in sub-rule (3) shall be
referred to a committee to be constituted by the public examination authority
which shall examine the report of the Regional Officer and submit its findings
to the public examination authority for appropriate decision. (5)
The committee referred to in sub-rule (4),
shall comprise of a senior official from the public examination authority, an
expert member to be nominated by the public examination authority and a member
from the Department (not below the rank of Director) to which the public
examination authority reports. (6)
All incidents of unfair means or offence in
connection with the conduct of public examination shall be reported to the
public examination authority by Regional officer along with the details of
action taken from time to time. (1)
The public examination authority, on receipt
of report of Regional officer or otherwise, regarding the actions of a public
servant deputed for conduct of public examination shall examine whether
anything done in conduct of public examination by the public servant was in
good faith as referred to in section 14 of the Act. (2)
A committee may be constituted by the public
examination authority for the purpose of sub rule (1), which shall be headed by
an officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary or equivalent and shall
comprise of one senior officer from the public examination authority and an
expert to be nominated by the public examination authority. (3)
The Committee shall examine all relevant
information and submit its finding to the public examination authority for
appropriate action.ER-VI Every public examination
authority shall set up a mechanism for monitoring the implementation of
provisions of the Act. FORM
-1 (1)
Name of public examination authority (2)
Details of public examination (including date
and location of centre): (3)
Name and identity of complainant (Attach copy of identity
proof) (4)
Date and place of occurrence of unfair means
or offence: PART
2: DETAILS OF UNFAIR MEANS OR OFFENCE (1)
Details of unfair means or offence (2)
Details of persons involved: PART
3: MATERIAL (EVIDENCES) AVAILABLE Copy of complaint, other
documents, evidence or any other relevant material available with reference to
the unfair means or offenc PART
4: PARTICULARS OF WITNESSES Details (Name, address,
contact details and identity proof) PART
5: FINDINGS (1)
Whether filing of First Information Report is
required and reasons thereof (2)
Any other recommendation/ remark (3)
Date and time of sending the report to the
Centre Coordinator (Signature) Name and complete details of
Venue-In-Charge FORM
-2 [See
rule 71] FORMAT
FOR USE BY CENTRE COORDINA7EPORTING OF UNFAIR MEANS OR OFFENCE IN CASE SERVICE
PROVIDER OR A PUBLIC SERVANT IS INVOLVED PART
1: PRELIMINARY DETAILS (1)
Name of public examination authority (2)
Details of public examination (including date
and location of centre) (3)
Details of service provider (4)
Name and identity of complainant (Attach copy
of Identity proof) PART
2: DETAILS OF UNFAIR MEANS OR OFFENCE (1)
Name of person(s) of service provider
involved (2)
Name of the public servant(s) involved (3)
Details of unfair means or offence PART
3: MATERIAL ELENCES) AVAILABLE Copy of complaint,
documents, evidence or any other material available with reference to unfair
means or offence PART
4: PARTICULARS OF WITNESSE Details (Name, address,
contact details and identity proof) PART
5: RECOMMENDATION FOR REGIONAL OFFICER (Signature) Name and full details of
Centre Coordinator (Date and time of sending
report to Regional Officer)Bihar Public Examination (Prevention Of Unfair Means) Rules, 2024
PREAMBLE
and for overseeing the compliance of all norms or standards and guidelines
notified for conduct of public examination;
[Sec rule 7]
FORMAT FOR REPORTING OF UNFAIR MEANS OR OFFENCE BY VENUE IN CHARGE
PART 1: PRELIMINARY DETAILS