The Supreme Court on Monday expressed strong displeasure over alleged irregularities linked to the NEET-UG examination process, remarking that it was "sad that NTA has not learnt the lesson" despite earlier directions issued in connection with the 2024 NEET paper leak case.
A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe also issued notices to the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) seeking a response on a batch of pleas, including one by the United Doctors Front (UDF), that have sought the dissolution of the NTA over allegations of paper leak of the NEET-UG 2026 examination and a re-examination under the monitoring of a panel headed by a former Supreme Court judge.
Court asks NTA to file affidavit
The court directed that a copy of the petitions be served to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, besides other parties and asked the NTA, which is responsible for conducting the NEET exam, to file an affidavit by Thursday on compliance of directions issued by the court in 2024.
"It's sad that they have not learnt their lessons. The matter travelled to this court earlier also. There was a committee, a monitoring committee, which made some recommendations, and they were accepted. We want NTA to file an affidavit on the steps taken for compliance of recommendations suggested by the committee," the bench said.
The top court, which issued notice on a plea filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), through lawyer Tanvi Dubey said it is tagging all the similar matters together.
It directed the Centre-appointed committee led by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Radhakrishnan for an overhaul of the functioning of the NTA to detail the steps taken for compliance of its directions.
The medical body has urged the top court for direct restructuring or replacement of NTA with a robust and autonomous system to conduct NEET-UG, citing a "direct assault" on the fundamental rights of over 22.7 lakh students through recurring paper leaks.
It has also sought a direction to appoint a high-powered monitoring committee until a fresh body is formally constituted to oversee the re-examination. It further said the committee should comprise a retired Supreme Court judge as the chair, along with a cybersecurity expert and a forensic scientist, to ensure that no further leaks occur.
NEET-UG paper leak
On May 12, the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG)-2026 held on May 3 for medical admissions following allegations of paper leak. A re-examination has been scheduled for June 21.
The test was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres on May 3 and was cancelled after information regarding alleged malpractice was received on May 7. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test.
The government has asked the Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI) to carry out a comprehensive inquiry into the "irregularities".
The CBI registered its case in the matter, based on a written complaint by the Department of Higher Education under the Education Ministry.
So far, 11 accused have been arrested in this case from Delhi, Jaipur, Gurugram, Nasik, Pune, Latur and Ahliyanagar, a CBI spokesperson said on Friday. The investigation so far has brought out the actual source of the paper leak.
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