Sad NTA Has Not Learnt Lessons From NEET Leak: SC

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) New Delhi- The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the National Testing Agency (NTA) over the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, saying it was“sad” that the agency appeared not to have learnt lessons from the controversy surrounding the medical entrance examination last year.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe sought responses from the Centre, the NTA and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a batch of petitions seeking restructuring or replacement of the testing agency with a more robust and autonomous body to conduct the examination.

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“It's sad that they have not learnt their lessons. The matter travelled to this court earlier also,” the bench observed while hearing the pleas.

The court directed the NTA to file an affidavit by Thursday detailing the steps taken to comply with recommendations made by a court-appointed monitoring committee after the 2024 NEET paper leak controversy.

The bench also asked the Centre-appointed committee headed by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan to place on record the progress made in implementing reforms suggested earlier by the apex court.

The matter has been listed for further hearing on Friday.

The petitions, including one filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), have sought either a complete overhaul or replacement of the NTA, alleging repeated systemic failures in conducting the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG).

The plea argued that repeated paper leaks amounted to a“direct assault” on the rights of more than 22 lakh students appearing for the examination.

The petitioners have also sought the constitution of a high-powered monitoring committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, along with cybersecurity and forensic experts, to oversee any re-examination process and prevent future leaks.

Read Also NEET Paper Leak Case: Court Sends Accused to 6-day CBI Custody NEET 'Leak': Parliamentary Panel GrillS Top NTA Officials

The NEET-UG 2026 examination conducted on May 3 was cancelled on May 12 amid allegations of paper leaks, now under investigation by the CBI.

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According to the plea, the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group (SOG) found that“guess papers” circulated on WhatsApp and Telegram allegedly contained 120 questions identical to those appearing in the actual Biology and Chemistry sections of the exam.

The petition alleged that despite claims of advanced security measures, including AI-monitored cameras, GPS tracking and 5G jammers, the safeguards largely existed“only on paper”.

Referring to last year's controversy, the petition stated that authorities had failed to implement meaningful reforms despite judicial scrutiny and repeated warnings.

In 2024, while refusing to cancel the NEET examination despite the paper leak row, the Supreme Court had directed major reforms in the conduct of public examinations and expanded the mandate of the Radhakrishnan committee.

The committee had been tasked with recommending measures related to examination security, transportation of question papers, CCTV surveillance, candidate verification, encryption protocols, technological safeguards, grievance redressal systems and adoption of international best practices.

The fresh cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 has left lakhs of medical aspirants uncertain about re-examination schedules, counselling timelines and admission procedures.

The court has directed all parties to file their responses within three days.

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