The Supreme Court has said "It is sad" that no lessons have been learned from previous instances of NEET exam paper leak cases as it heard a plea against the National Testing Agency, the centre-run body that conducts this and other entrance tests.
The court issued notice to the Centre and the Education Ministry over pleas filed in the matter of the exam paper leak in the NEET-UG 2026 exam. The court also sought a reply from the NTA on what happened to the monitoring committee that was to have been constituted on its earlier orders.
The court was hearing a plea seeking the replacement of the NTA and a fresh examination under judicial supervision. The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) had moved the court challenging the alleged "systemic failure" by the NTA in conducting NEET-UG 2026.
The petition, filed through advocate Tanvi Dubey, sought directions to replace or fundamentally restructure the NTA and to conduct a fresh examination under judicial supervision.
The plea asked the court to direct the Union Government to replace the NTA with a "more robust, technologically advanced, and autonomous body" for conducting NEET examinations.
The plea was filed days after the NTA cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 examination conducted on May 3 following allegations of a paper leak and after the Centre handed over the probe to the CBI.
Reports have stated that "guess papers" circulating on WhatsApp and Telegram allegedly matched more than 100 questions in the actual examination paper.
The plea also sought the constitution of a high-powered monitoring committee chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge, along with a cybersecurity expert and a forensic scientist, to supervise the re-conduct of NEET-UG 2026 until a new independent examination body is formally constituted.
The petition sought directions to re-conduct NEET-UG 2026 under the scrutiny of a judicially appointed high-powered committee until the proposed interim oversight committee constituted by the court had verified and certified the security of the revised examination process.
The plea also sought directions for digital locking of question papers and a transition to a Computer Based Test (CBT) model to eliminate the physical chain-of-custody risks.
Meanwhile, the court directed the NTA to file a counter-affidavit and also directed the chairman of the monitoring committee to ensure compliance. The matter has been listed for Friday.
from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/X0dBL4e