The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the current system of conducting NEET-UG exam was "foolproof and difficult to breach". Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the government explained to the court citing a Physics paper. Mehta explained that at first, a bank of 500 questions were created by several set of moderators. From this lot, other moderators prepare four different question papers having 100 questions each. The DG NTA then selects two out of four papers, the paper then go into a sealed box for printing under CISF security and CCTV observations.
The box contains digital key and the access code can only be received after the press owner contacts the DG NTA. Once the box is opened, no outsider is allowed and the entire process of printing is video-recorded. The centre's submission to Supreme Court comes months after the NEET UG paper got leaked on May 3.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court stressed the need to institutionalise reforms in the NEET exam. A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe directed NTA to inform about steps taken to implement the recommendations of the Radhakrishnan panel and the Nandan Nilekani committee. The bench has directed Mehta to file a fresh affidavit on steps taken to implement recommendations.
Following Education Minister Pralhad Joshi's directions that all necessary security measures and requisite infrastructure be ensured for the smooth conduct of examinations, DG NTA said comprehensive changes have been made to the examination team and 600 experts have been replaced with new ones. “A four-tier question paper verification system will be implemented to strengthen the scrutiny and review of question papers," he added. He further stated that 20–25 officials will be appointed over the next 2–3 weeks and plans for further appointments were reviewed.
Moreover, the NTA offices will be relocated to new premises on a war footing and the security arrangements at the new premises will be further strengthened through the deployment of CISF teams. The Centre announced the major overhaul of the examination system at the National Testing Agency, including a four-tier paper checking process, removal of 600 experts along with onboarding of new ones and CISF-secured office premises.
