Last Updated on May 26, 2026 12:03 am by INDIAN AWAAZ
SC issues notice to Ministry of Education, NTA, others on pleas to ‘replace or fundamentally restructure’ the NTA, make it answerable to the Parliament
Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Expressing concern over recurring irregularities in the NEET examination process, the Supreme Court on Monday observed that the National Testing Agency (NTA) appeared to have “not learnt lessons” from the earlier NEET paper leak controversy. The court sought responses from the Centre, the NTA and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on petitions demanding restructuring or replacement of the testing agency with an independent and robust body to conduct the medical entrance examination.
A bench comprising Justices P. S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe directed the NTA to file an affidavit by Thursday detailing the steps taken to implement recommendations made by a court-appointed committee following the 2024 NEET controversy. The bench also asked that copies of the petitions be served to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
“It is sad that lessons have not been learnt. Earlier too, this matter had reached the court. A monitoring committee had made recommendations which were accepted. We want the NTA to explain what steps have been taken to comply with those suggestions,” the bench remarked during the hearing.
The court issued notice on a petition filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) through advocate Tanvi Dubey and said all similar pleas would be heard together. It also directed the Centre-appointed committee headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation chief K. Radhakrishnan to submit details of the reforms and compliance measures undertaken so far.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on Friday, with all parties asked to file their responses within three days.
FAIMA, in its petition, argued that repeated paper leak incidents amount to a “direct assault” on the fundamental rights of over 22 lakh students appearing for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG). The organisation has urged the apex court to either overhaul the NTA or replace it with a more autonomous and accountable examination body.
The petition also sought the appointment 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 further leaks.
The NEET-UG examination conducted on May 3 was cancelled on May 12 following allegations of question paper leaks. The case is currently under investigation by the CBI.
Referring to the 2024 NEET controversy, the petition noted that despite earlier judicial interventions and recommendations for reforms, the examination system remained vulnerable. The Supreme Court had then declined to cancel the examination but had expanded the mandate of the Radhakrishnan Committee to recommend changes in exam security, transportation of question papers, CCTV surveillance, encryption systems, candidate verification, technological safeguards and grievance redressal mechanisms.
According to the FAIMA plea, the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group (SOG) found that “guess papers” circulated on WhatsApp and Telegram allegedly matched 120 questions from the actual Biology and Chemistry sections of the NEET-UG 2026 paper. The petition claimed that security arrangements such as AI-monitored cameras, GPS tracking and 5G jammers existed “only on paper”.
The petition further sought directions to the CBI to submit a status report within four weeks detailing the progress of the investigation, arrests made, and prosecution initiated in connection with the alleged leak. It also demanded publication of centre-wise NEET-UG 2026 results to ensure transparency in detecting anomalies.
Highlighting the anxiety among lakhs of students and their families, the petition said the cancellation of the examination had created uncertainty regarding fresh exam dates, admit cards, counselling schedules and examination centres.