Jharkhand: BJP MLAs meet governor in bid to block ‘draconian’ exams Bill
Besides meeting the Governor CP Radhakrishnan, the BJP legislators, who arrived late in the House on Friday due to their visit to Raj Bhawan in the morning, disrupted the proceedings demanding withdrawal of the bill. The House was adjourned twice due to the disruptions and sloganeering in the first half.
A day after the state assembly cleared the Jharkhand Competitive Examination (Measures for Control and Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2023, a delegation of BJP legislators led by Babulal Marandi met Governor CP Radhakrishnan on Friday and urged him not to give his assent to the law in the “larger public interest”.
“This is a draconian law that has been brought to cover up the corruption in conducting competitive exams by the agencies of the state government and to muzzle the voice of any dissent, including those of examinees and media. They have come up with 26,000 vacancies of teachers. They would sell out all seats and use this law as a shield,” Marandi said after meeting the Governor.
“We have apprised Governor about the objectionable clauses in this Bill, which include jail term for even those who raise questions about the agencies conducting the examinations. We have urged the Governor to stop this Bill. He said he will look into it. We are hopeful he would take appropriate decision in interest of the state,” he said.
The Jharkhand assembly on Thursday cleared a Bill meant to check unfair means in competitive examinations, making any offence under the law non-bailable and non-compoundable with power to the police to register FIR without conducting any mandatory preliminary inquiry and make arrest of accused without seeking any approval from higher-ups.
The Bill provides jail term up to three years for examinees caught in resorting to unfair means, debarment from future exams, besides jail term up to life improvement and monetary fine up to ₹10 crore for people convicted for being involved in paper leaks and related crimes.
Besides meeting the Governor, the BJP legislators, who arrived late in the House on Friday due to their visit to Raj Bhawan in the morning, disrupted the proceedings demanding withdrawal of the bill. The House was adjourned twice due to the disruptions and sloganeering in the first half.
Ruling JMM leaders said it is for the BJP to decide whether they want to stand with those behind organised gangs obstructing the examination process.
“The government wants to check unfair means and ensure lakhs of students are not affected due to crime of a select few. We want to protect poor students from money bags who can buy question papers and manage to get seats by unfair means. It is the BJP that has to decide which side they want to stand with,” said JMM legislator Sudivya Kumar.