Bill passed to make laws against paper leak stringent

The Himachal Vidhan Sabha today passed the Himachal Pradesh Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2025 to check leakage of entrance papers in government recruitment.

The Bill was laid in the house by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. The Bill proposes to ensure transparency, fairness and credibility in the public examination system. "The Bill seeks to provide a strong legal framework for individuals, groups or institutions in unfair practices that undermine the integrity of examinations for monetary or wrongful gains," are the main objectives of the Bill.

The Bill proposes that anybody engaged in unfair practices in examination like leakage of question papers or answer keys will be liable for imprisonment for a period of three to five years and the offence will be non-bailable.

The House also passed the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill 2025. The main objectives of the Bill is to introduce electoral reforms on the analogy of the Representation of the People Act,1951, including provisions relating to electoral rolls, election expenses, qualifications, disqualifications and conduct of elections. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said panchayat pradhans facing corruption charges will be debarred from contesting elections.

The Bill aims to strengthen the functioning of panchayats, by enhancing penalties and jurisdictional values, rationalising financial procedures, and providing administrative clarity with respect to tenure, suspension, recovery of dues. The House also passed Himachal Pradesh Taxation (On Certain Goods Carried by Road) Amendment Bill, 2025 and the Registration (Himachal Pradesh Amendment) Bill 2025.