As the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) continues its protests in Delhi over irregularities in NEET UG examination, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has terminated 47 of its officials and further action is expected against many others, said sources on Friday.
As part of its major overhaul and the restructuring of the agency, the NTA will also take legal and criminal actions against some of the officials. Sources told India TV that more "reformative actions" will further be taken in the future, adding that the outsourcing model will also be revamped.
The agency has also issued an advertisement for the posts.
The NTA is responsible for conducting a wider ranger of entrance examinations on behalf of various universities and government bodies, including the NEET (UG), the National Teachers' Eligibility Test (NTET), the JEE (Main), the CUET (UG) and (PG), the UGC-NET, the National Common Entrance Test (NCET), the ICAR AIEEA (PG) and many others.
However, the agency's functioning has come under scanner due to the NEET (UG) paper leak, with calls being made for a complete overhaul of the NTA. Calls have also been made to scrap the NTA, with critics arguing that the organisation has failed to conduct examinations fairly, but the Centre has repeated that no such proposal is there in place.
Union Cabinet clears anti-paper leak bill
The NTA action comes hours after the Union Cabinet cleared a draft bill to ensure stricter punishments in paper leak cases. The bill was cleared following a Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Parliament House complex earlier in the day, and it will be presented in the Parliament next week.
The bill will amend The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, and it proposes a jail term of up to 10 years and a maximum fine of Rs 10 crore in case of organised paper leaks.
The draft bill was promised by PM Modi in a late-night video, who called paper leak incidents extremely painful, adding that he knows that paper leaks are not a small issue.
"The cabinet will discuss the issue of paper leaks on Friday and taking suggestions of the cabinet colleagues, further action would be finalised," he said, promising stern action in NEET paper leak case. "The guilty have been caught. They are now in jail. Our most significant responsibility was to ensure that the students do not lose a year. It was necessary to hold the examination immediately. By using all resources, the government has ensured that 22 lakhs students could attend the retest."
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