NEET UG paper leak: RS panel for mechanism to ensure NTA's accountability to Parliament

NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary Standing Committee examining the role of the National Testing Agency (NTA) in the wake of NEET UG paper leak and cancellation Friday called for a legislative mechanism to ensure the agency's accountability to both Houses of Parliament.

Noting that trust in the examinations conducted by the NTA was a matter of social justice and national integrity, the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, in its detailed report today said, "The education department may introduce appropriate Parliamentary framework that ensures NTA's accountability to Parliament."

The committee, while recognizing NTA's past efforts at improvement, said the cancellation of NEET (UG) 2026 implies that further improvement is necessary. The NTA on May 12 cancelled the NEET (UG) 2026 exam conducted on May 3 amid allegations of paper leak.

"Organised networks that profit from examination fraud are adaptive and resourceful, and will always seek the weakest link in the chain. The NTA therefore needs adequate staff, robust security protocols, clear accountability mechanisms, and digitalization of operations and examinations to ensure that it stays ahead of any challenges," said the panel.

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Panel on students arriving late for NEET examinations

Among major reforms the panel suggested are conduct of examinations in the computer based test model instead of pen and paper and also involvement of government owned and operated centres to hold entrance tests and reduction in reliance on private centres.

The committee further recommended broad basing of question banks and suggested that students who arrive later at exam centres be allowed to sit for the test after recording an undertaking.

"The Committee notes that investment in question banks is the most viable defense against paper leaks in the long-run. The repeated use of the same question sets or the practice of having examiners set new question papers every year can be a risk to the integrity of the examination process.

"The Committee, therefore, is of the view that NTA should invest in building a large, diverse, and continuously updated question bank which can be drawn on to set papers without the advance knowledge of the question-setters," said the panel.

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IITs, AIIMS, IIMs should develop question banks for NEET: RS Panel

It further recommended that the NTA must rely on bona fide experts from our most renowned educational institutions ' including IITs, AIIMSs, IIMs to develop its question banks and for translation.

"The NTA must also develop a system to check the track record of said experts to establish their integrity and to rule out any conflict of interest (e.g., owners or faculty of private coaching centers, family members giving the exam, etc.) before recruiting them," says the report.

"Reforms and Strengthening of NTA". Urging that India needs a system where Director General to the entrance exam centre invigilator see themselves as guardians of examination integrity rather than just jobholders, the panel said rebuilding trust of people will require consistent, transparent, and two-way communication with stakeholders.

Raising an alarm over 41 per cent vacancy in sanctioned posts at NTA, the committee called for permanent staff for the agency rather than deputation staff.

"The Committee notes that of the 39 sanctioned positions in the NTA, only 23 officers are currently in position and on deputation to the NTA -“ a vacancy of 41%. .. all the 39 permanent posts that exist in the NTA are currently filled through a deputation mode. NTA should therefore hire its own officers on a permanent basis, with a particular emphasis on specialists in psychometrics, examination security, digital infrastructure, data analytics, and examination logistics.

The 16 posts under the Central Staffing Scheme should be treated as a supplementary layer of senior leadership, not as a substitute for domain expertise." The panel has also called for a concrete implementation plan for secure government CBT centres.