Cheating in exams plague-like pandemic: Delhi High Court

New Delhi, December 27

Terming copying and cheating in examinations as a plague-like pandemic which can ruin society and the education system, the Delhi High Court has said those using unfair means must be dealt with a heavy hand.

“Copying and cheating in examinations is like plague. It is a pandemic that can ruin society and the educational system of any country. If the same is left unchecked or if leniency is shown, it can have a deleterious effect. For any country’s progress, the integrity of the educational system has to be infallible, a Bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said.

The court dismissed the appeal challenging a single judge’s order refusing to interfere with the cancellation of the examinations undertaken by the appellant, an engineering student, who was found using unfair means in the end-term second semester examination.

Noting that the integrity of the education system has to be infallible for any country’s progress, the Bench said “students who resort to unfair means and get away with it cannot build the nation”.

“Persons using unfair means to steal marks over students who work hard to prove their worth have to be dealt with a heavy hand. Students who resort to unfair means and get away with it cannot build this nation. They cannot be dealt with leniently and they should be made to learn a lesson not to adopt unfair means in their life,” it said.

The court said in the present case, certain students were able to get hold of the question paper and share the questions and answers amongst themselves, which gave them an unfair advantage over those who burned the midnight oil to prepare for the exams.

“The conduct of all stakeholders has to reflect unblemished commitment, whether it is paper-setters maintaining utmost confidentiality or students not cheating or invigilators being vigilant etc. and the appellant’s university was, in fact, lenient in not rusticating those who had cheated,” it said.

The HC said the top court has stressed the need for maintaining purity and strict discipline in the conduct of examinations, deeming it to be necessary for the overall progress of the nation. — (With PTI inputs)