NEET-UG paper leak case: It's sad that NTA has not learnt lesson, says Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the National Testing Agency (NTA) on a clutch of petitions filed over the leak of question paper for the undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test 2026 (NEET-UG 2026).

A bench of justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe verbally remarked "it is sad that they (NTA) have not learnt their lesson. We passed an order. A committee was formed. It made recommendations, it was accepted. A monitoring committee was also there". Hence, the bench sought NTA's response to the pleas.

The bench was referring to similar accusations of paper leak in 2024. The court back then had issued directions to ensure that such an incident does not recur.


"We direct NTA to file an affidavit indicating the position as regards the monitoring committee constituted on November 14 (2024). We direct K Radhakrishnan, chairman of the committee, to file an affidavit with the steps taken to ensure compliance with the directions of the high-powered committee," the bench ordered. The matter will come up for resumed hearing on Friday. The counsel for one of the petitioners pointed out that the re-exam date has already been announced - on June 21. "We are not so much on the re-examination," the bench remarked.

Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court after the NEET-UG exam held on May 3 was cancelled following allegations of paper leak. The case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation for probe. The federal agency has so far arrested 11 accused, including a "kingpin" and "another mastermind".

A petitioner has sought an overhaul of NTA and a court-supervised re-conduct of the exam. The Federation of All India Medical Association moved the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to the central government to replace or fundamentally restructure NTA with a more robust, technologically advanced and autonomous body for conducting NEET.

The petitioner has urged the top court to re-conduct NEET-UG 2026 under the strict supervision of a judicially appointed, high-power committee. The proposed committee, the plea reads, should be chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge and include a cybersecurity expert and a forensic scientist to ensure the integrity of the examination process.

The plea calls for interim oversight by such a committee pending the constitution of a National Examination Integrity Commission, and asks it to supervise the re-examination and certify the security of the revised system before it is implemented.

The petitioner has sought structural and technological reforms, including mandatory "digital locking" of question papers. The plea also calls for a transition to a computer-based test model to eliminate risks associated with the physical hand.