"Fast-track courts for paper leak cases no solution": Jairam Ramesh alleges MH-CET, Class 12 result mismatch
Jul 30, 2026
New Delhi [India], July 30 : Senior Congress leader and MP Jairam Ramesh on Thursday criticised the Central government over the proposed Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, alleging that fast-track courts for paper leak cases would not address the deeper problems facing India's education system.
Ramesh said the resignation of the Education Minister was only the "first step" towards restoring credibility in the education system and raised questions over the alleged mismatch between Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MH-CET) results and Class 12 board examination scores.
"India's education system is rotten from the inside, and the resignation of the Education Minister is merely the first step in a long process to restore its credibility," Ramesh said in a post on X.
Referring to the MH-CET results, the Congress MP said that over the past three years, a discrepancy had been observed between the performance of students in the entrance examination and their Class 12 board examinations.
"For the past three years, a clear discrepancy has been evident between the results of the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MH-CET) for engineering admissions and the scores of Class 12 board examinations," he said.
"Top-ranking students in MH-CET are not performing as expected in their board exams. Is there some kind of irregularity behind this? Or is the reason that the coaching culture is increasingly overshadowing school-based education? We need to engage in serious introspection on these questions," he further said.
"Passing a law to establish fast-track courts for paper leak cases is no solution at all. It is an insult to the sentiments of the millions of youth who have taken to the streets in recent months and to their justified outrage," Ramesh added.
https://x.com/Jairam_Ramesh/status/2082737354180317487
Ramesh's remarks came as the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, was taken up in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, a day after it was passed by the Lok Sabha following a marathon debate over paper leaks and the alleged police action against student protesters at Jantar Mantar on July 20.
The Bill seeks to strengthen the legal framework against examination-related malpractices by enhancing punishments for offenders. It proposes imprisonment of not less than five years, extendable up to 10 years, and raises the maximum fine for individuals from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.
For organised examination-related crimes, the proposed legislation increases the minimum imprisonment to seven years, extendable up to 10 years, while enhancing the maximum fine from Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore.
The legislation also provides for the constitution of a Special Task Force to investigate paper leak cases, mandates completion of investigations within two months and proposes Special Fast Track Courts to conclude trials within three months of filing the charge sheet.
