NEET Paper Leak Row: A Parliamentary panel has asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to define what constitutes a “paper leak” in its definition and whether any paper leaks have occurred in exams it conducted since 2018, according to a report by the Press Trust of India (PTI), citing sources. The committee has sought written answers from the NTA on the issue of the NEET exam.
According to the report, the Parliamentary Committee for Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, headed by Congress member Digvijaya Singh, is investigating the NEET paper leak issue and the CBSE On-Screen Marking System (OSM) row, having summoned top government officials including those from the NTA and CBSE.
The panel’s questionnaire follows NTA officials’ appearance before it last week, where they contended that there was no paper leak from their system, claiming that some questions from a guess paper were in circulation, sources said.
The panel asked the testing agency whether it conducted any inquiry into the allegations of irregularities in the NEET UG 2024 paper (outside of the CBI investigations), the report highlighted.
The panel also questioned the NTA about its staff strength for the last three years and fresh recruitments made since 2022. It also demanded the annual reports that the NTA submitted to the Higher Education Department for the last three years.
As per the report, the sources said that the committee has sought a detailed report on each of the Radhakrishnan Committee Report’s 101 recommendations and the action taken by the NTA on each one of them. The NTA has been asked to submit written answers by June 10.
The high-level committee of experts led by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan was set up in June 2024 by the centre to give recommendations for transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through the NTA, including on its structure and functioning, reforms in the examination process and improvement in data security protocols.
The move comes amid ongoing controversies around the NEET UG 2026. The agency had announced the cancellation of the NEET UG examination on May 12.
The NTA is scheduled to conduct the NEET UG 2026 re-examination on June 21, while admit cards are expected to be released by June 14.
