Parliamentary panel members grill top NTA officials over NEET paper leak

Several Members of Parliament on Thursday questioned senior officials of the Testing Agency over the NEET-UG controversy, with the agency’s Director General reportedly stating that the examination paper was not leaked through the NTA’s system and that the matter is currently under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), sources told PTI. The discussion took place during a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, where MPs sought details from NTA officials regarding measures being implemented to strengthen the examination process and prevent future paper leaks. The panel had summoned top officials of the education ministry, including Education Secretary Vineet Joshi. The NTA officials, including Chairperson Pradeep Kumar Joshi and Director General Abhishek Singh, gave a detailed presentation on the recommendations of the Radhakrishnan Report on reforms in the agency. The sources told PTI on queries from the MPs on how the Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) paper was leaked, Singh said it was not leaked through their system. At this, several MPs asked him then how did the paper get leaked and what was the need to cancel the exam and hold a retest, PTI reported. According to the PTI, citing sources, the NTA DG said the Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into the matter. Several opposition MPs demanded that the investigation report be submitted before the parliamentary panel, while some members from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party opposed the request, arguing that the CBI is an independent agency and should be allowed to carry out its inquiry without interference. The sources said Singh gave a detailed presentation on the implementation of the steps recommended in the Radhakrishnan Report on NTA reforms and informed that around 70 per cent of the short-term measures suggested have already been implemented. The NTA officials told the members of the panel that steps are being taken to evolve a foolproof examination system and a comprehensive review is being conducted. They also said credible people should be involved in the paper setting and distribution system. The NTA officials said holding the NEET through a computer-based testing (CBT) platform is being considered and future exams could be conducted through this mode. The MPs are learnt to have raised the issue of staff shortage and filling vacancies in the NTA to ensure that the agency functions efficiently and leakages are prevented. The sources said the NTA informed the members of the committee that there is a staff shortage of around 25 per cent in the agency currently and steps are being taken systematically to fill up all such vacancies to plug any loophole. After the meeting, the chairperson of the parliamentary panel, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, said, "Whatever discussions happen in the parliamentary committee, we are under oath and we cannot discuss it." He later said, "The meeting went off very well. We got inputs from all the members. The members expressed their concerns over the NEET paper leak." Earlier, listing out the steps taken by the NTA and the government to prevent breaches and malpractices, the officials of the agency said detailed standard operating procedures (SOPs) and checklists for breach management in both PPT and CBT modes have been sent to stakeholders and the collaboration established with the state or district administrations for conducting high-stake examinations and reporting malpractices are being actively monitored on social-media platforms. Also Read | I asked ChatGPT what will change when NEET goes digital from next year The NTA informed the panel that the NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted by it on May 3 at 5,432 centres in 565 cities (including 14 cities abroad). The examination was conducted in 13 languages and more than 22.7 lakh candidates had registered, with over 22.05 lakh appearing in the examination. The Radhakrishnan Committee has made several recommendations, including harmonisation and unification of entrance tests for undergraduate admissions, a gradual migration towards computer-adaptive testing and the creation of an NTA public test platform and infrastructure. Among the long-term measures suggested by the high-level committee of experts are a transition from pen and paper to computer-based testing, the introduction of multi-session and multi-stage testing, and the imposition of number of attempts and age limits. These will be implemented in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The NTA also aims at establishing cloud-based infrastructure, integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain for secure monitoring, phasing out reliance on test-delivery agencies by building an in-house examination software and institutionalising pilot testing. Also Read | Karnataka, TN seek return of state medical entrance exams after NEET paper leak The NTA has said it plans to introduce advanced cryptographi