A protest over alleged examination irregularities and NEET paper leak at Samvidhan Chowk, in Nagpur on Friday. Photo: ANIThe Centre tabled The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha on Monday (July 27) to strengthen the anti-paper leak law — The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 — and increase the punishment for those involved in paper leaks.The recent protests at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and other cities across India have put the spotlight on laws pertaining to examination irregularities. With Parliament slated to discuss the Bill on Tuesday, here’s a look at how individual states have legislated similar laws to curb use of cheating, malpractice, and unfair means in competitive examinations.“Broadly, unfair means is defined to include the use of unauthorised help and the unauthorised use of written material by candidates,” write Pratinav Damani and Siddharth Rao of the research firm PRS Legislative Research in a April 26, 2023, note titled “Anti-cheating laws for competitive examinations”.Also in Explained | Before Team Nilekani, ex-ISRO chief-led panel tried to fix exams: What its report saidAccording to the PRS note, laws to curb exam malpractices generally include provisions penalising the use of unfair means by candidates and other groups in public examinations — this refers to exams conducted by state public sector commissions and higher secondary education boards. Individuals responsible for conducting examinations are also prohibited from disclosing any information by virtue of their appointment.OdishaOdisha was one of the first states to legislate an anti-cheating law as early as 1988: The Orissa Conduct of Examinations Act, 1988. On the back of multiple incidents of paper leaks including in the NEET-UG examination in 2024, the Odisha government introduced The Odisha Public Examinations (Prevention Of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which finally received the Governor’s assent in February 2025. The new law widened the scope of the earlier law in terms of defining both offenders and what unfair means constitute, and introduced much more stringent punishments.Andhra PradeshThe (then undivided) state passed The Andhra Pradesh Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractices and Unfair Means) Act, 1997, “to prevent malpractices and unfair means at or relating to public examinations and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.NewsletterFollow our daily newsletter so you never miss anything important. On Wednesday, we answer readers' questions.SubscribeThe Act was updated in 2006 widened the ambit to include predatory and deceptive marketing techniques used by coaching centres and private tutorial institutes.Other statesStory continues below this adOther states which have introduced legislation in this regard include Uttar Pradesh (The Uttar Pradesh Public Examinations [Prevention of Unfair Means] Act, 1998), Jharkhand (The Jharkhand Conduct of Examinations Act, 2001), Chhattisgarh (The Chhattisgarh Public Examinations [Prevention of Unfair Means] Act, 2008), Rajasthan (The Rajasthan Public Examination [Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment] Act, 2022), Gujarat (The Gujarat Public Examination [Prevention of Unfair Methods] Act, 2023), and Uttarakhand (The Uttarakhand Competitive Examination [Measures for Prevention and Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment] Act, 2023).