On Friday, the Cabinet meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi approved the “Paper Leak Bill Amendment,” which will contain stringent provisions against paper leak mafias. This will provide legal backing to special fast-track courts. The fast-track courts will be mandated to hear and deliver verdicts within three months. Paper leak cases will carry a penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10 crore rupees. The Paper Leak Amendment Bill will be introduced in Parliament next week. It is expected to be presented in the House on Monday.
Earlier on Thursday, PM Modi shared a video on the paper leak issue, in which he stated that paper leaks are not a minor issue and are traumatic for millions of students and their parents. Therefore, several steps have been taken in the past two and a half months since the paper leak. The culprits have been caught and are in jail. It was our responsibility to ensure that students’ year was not wasted, so we conducted exams for 2.2 million students in a short time. The results were also declared on July 19th. But we are not satisfied with this. Therefore, we have directed the establishment of fast-track courts.
The government says that the process for establishing these courts will be initiated through legislation. Paper leak cases will be heard in these courts within a maximum period of three months. This bill is expected to be brought to the House of Parliament on July 27th. Earlier on Friday, there was a huge uproar in both Houses over the paper leak issue, following which the proceedings of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned until Sunday.
In addition, the central government also made a major reshuffle in the Education Department on Thursday, appointing Naresh Pal Gangwar as Secretary of the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education. He is a 1994-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre and will replace the current Secretary, Vineet Joshi.
Earlier on Thursday morning, PM Modi had announced the formation of a fast track court in the paper leak case, in which he had instructed the concerned departmental officials to take immediate action. Sonam Wangchuk was on a hunger strike for the last 26 days against the NEET paper leak, which he ended on Thursday. However, the Cockroach Janata Party, which has been protesting on this issue at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for the last one month, is also in talks with Union Minister JP Nadda and the movement is also continuing.