A parliamentary committee has put forward a proposal urging district authorities to withhold approval for rallies, processions, or any public gathering on dates when competitive examinations are scheduled, so that traffic flow and law-and-order conditions can be secured in advance and test-takers face no disruption from outside events.
A report on reforming and strengthening the National Testing Agency was placed before the Rajya Sabha chairman on Friday by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, a body currently chaired by Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Wasnik.
The document was submitted in the wake of questions raised over an examination paper leak and governance lapses at the NTA — episodes that drew students into street demonstrations across the country and contributed to Dharmendra Pradhan stepping down from his role as education minister. The advisory noted that rallies, processions, or large gatherings held on the day of an examination risk delaying test-takers and causing them to miss their allotted reporting window.
Among the amendments the panel's report proposed for the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 were provisions that would direct district-level authorities to prohibit rallies, processions, and similar public gatherings on examination days, alongside early deployment of traffic controls and law-and-order arrangements, so that candidates sitting the tests are not affected by preventable disruptions from outside.
Notices distributed by the NTA have, up to this point, urged test-takers to arrive at examination venues ahead of schedule and put contingency plans in place for any disruptions that fall on testing days.
The panel's submission noted that applicants who arrive a short time past the scheduled start are routinely barred from entering test venues, effectively nullifying months of preparation over what amounts to a brief delay. The committee also acknowledged that genuine circumstances can sometimes account for a candidate's late arrival.
The panel recommended establishing a procedure whereby latecomers to examination venues would be admitted only upon signing a written acknowledgement of their delayed arrival, after which they could sit the paper for whatever time remained, with no provision for additional time under any circumstances.
The panel further observed that invigilators carrying out administrative sign-off and verification tasks mid-examination draws test-takers' attention away from their work at a point when time pressure is already a factor. The committee recommended that a dedicated 15-minute window — placed either before or after the test — be set aside solely for those procedural tasks rather than allowing them to occur within the examination period itself.
