‘NTA Has Not Learnt Lessons’: Supreme Court Issues Notices on Pleas Seeking Overhaul of NEET Exam System

The Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern over the recurrence of issues surrounding the NEET examination, observing that the National Testing Agency (NTA) appeared not to have learned from the previous paper leak controversy.

A bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe issued notices to the Centre, the NTA, and the CBI on petitions seeking either a complete restructuring or replacement of the testing agency with an independent and robust mechanism to conduct the medical entrance examination.

The bench also directed that copies of the petitions be served to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and asked the NTA to file an affidavit by Thursday detailing compliance with directions issued by the Supreme Court in 2024 following the earlier controversy.

“It’s sad that they have not learnt their lessons. The matter had reached this court earlier as well. A committee had made recommendations, and those recommendations were accepted. We want the NTA to place on record the steps taken to implement them,” the bench observed.

The court issued notice on a plea filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) through advocate Tanvi Dubey and said all connected matters would be heard together.

Additionally, the bench directed the Centre-appointed panel led by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan, constituted to reform the functioning of the NTA, to submit details regarding the implementation of recommendations and compliance with the court’s earlier directions.

In its plea, FAIMA argued for either restructuring or replacing the NTA with an autonomous and more accountable examination authority, alleging that repeated paper leak incidents amounted to a serious violation of the rights of over 22.7 lakh students appearing for NEET-UG.

The petition also sought the constitution of a high-powered monitoring committee to oversee the re-examination process until a new body is established. According to the plea, the committee should be chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge and include a cybersecurity expert and a forensic scientist to strengthen transparency and prevent future breaches.

NEET-UG, conducted by the NTA on May 3 for admissions to undergraduate medical courses, was cancelled on May 12 following allegations of a paper leak. The matter is currently under investigation by the CBI.


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