New Delhi: Highlighting the need to institutionally strengthen the system to prevent recurring NEET paper leaks, the Supreme Court Friday unusually indicated that the judges of the bench may personally visit the National Testing Agency (NTA) to examine its upgraded facilities.
The NTA, which conducts the NEET-UG for admissions to undergraduate medical courses and has been under the heat due to recurring paper leaks, told a bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe that it has overhauled its entire mechanism, from administrative hierarchy to infrastructure, for making the system foolproof.
Justice Narasimha told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, that he and Justice Aradhe would like to visit the newly upgraded facility of the NTA to examine the system.
“Strengthening the NTA’s system institutionally is crucial to preventing recurring paper leaks. Merely immediate or temporary measures would not suffice. You must know that permanency of the entire system is key.
“There should be a permanent setup, permanent staff, permanent verticals. Very less deputation should be there. Only then a permanent structure will come up,” the bench told Mehta.
Justice Narasimha said the judges would go to the NTA office on Minto Road in Delhi and see whether the system is actually functional, and assess its manpower and other arrangements.
At the outset, the Centre told the bench that the Nandan Nilekani-led high-powered panel constituted to suggest structural reforms in NEET has held exhaustive consultations and is likely to submit its first interim report by the end of this month.
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Mehta said all the suggestions from stakeholders had been placed before the panel, which held consultations with the members of an earlier committee led by former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan.
The bench asked the joint secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), who is assisting the Nilekani panel, to file an affidavit before the court on the steps taken so far.
It told Mehta that the most important thing in the matter is that the government should look into institutionalisation of the entire process to conduct the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
The education department has said that a new, upgraded system has been created.
“Permanency of the structure has been ensured. However, human resources are partially ensured at the moment,” Mehta said.
The bench said the Radhakrishnan committee had also made some recommendations with regard to structural reforms but the problem is implementation of those suggestions.
Mehta assured the bench that all the recommendations by the Radhakrishnan committee as well as petitioners and other stakeholders are being looked into by the Nilekeni panel.
“It is the top most priority of the government. All necessary assistance will be provided,” Mehta told the bench.
The bench directed that the affidavit filed by the NTA must be uploaded on its website, so that people can make their suggestions.
It also asked the Centre to appoint a nodal counsel, where people can submit their suggestions.
August 19, observing that there is a need to institutionalise the reforms in the NTA, the top court directed the Centre to inform it about the steps taken to implement the recommendations of the Radhakrishnan panel and the Nilekani committee.
The apex court was hearing a batch of petitions, including one filed by advocate Tanvi Dubey on behalf of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA).
In its earlier affidavit, the Centre said in respect of NEET (UG), the migration from the pen-and-paper mode to a computer-based mode, whether in a single-stage or a two-stage examination on the pattern of the Joint Entrance Examination (Mains and Advanced), is presently under active consideration of all the stakeholders.
It also said the government has undertaken a comprehensive overhaul of the conduct of NEET to eliminate paper leaks and systemic failures.
The affidavit was filed in response to the apex court’s May 29 direction asking the Centre to explain how future NEET would be conducted and how regulatory authorities would build and retain institutional memory to improve the examination process over successive years.
The Centre had said that Parliament has also strengthened the legal framework against examination fraud through the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Act, 2026, building on the 2024 law that criminalised question paper leaks, impersonation, tampering with computer systems and other exam-related offences.
The seven-member Radhakrishnan Committee was set up by the Ministry of Education in the wake of the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak to make recommendations on reforms in the examination process, improvement in data security protocols and the structure and functioning of the NTA.
After the students’ protest in July this year, the Union government set up a high-powered task force led by Infosys co-founder Nilekani to suggest structural reforms in competitive examinations.
The NTA May 12 cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 held May 3 following allegations of paper leaks. The matter is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
A re-test was held June 21, and the results were announced July 16.
After questions of NEET-UG were allegedly leaked in 2024, the top court had refused to cancel the test, but passed various directions aimed at tackling paper leaks and also a criterion for cancelling public exams.
