NEET UG Paper Leak 2026: The NEET-UG 2026 paper leak controversy has once again brought the National Testing Agency (NTA) under the scanner, coming just two years after the NEET-UG 2024 paper leak controversy. Against this backdrop, the NTA is undergoing a major restructuring exercise as the government inducts a new crop of relatively younger officers into the organisation. But is the overhaul moving fast enough?
Parliamentary Panel To Review Leak, Reform Implementation
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports is now set to review both the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and the implementation of reforms recommended by the high-level K Radhakrishnan Committee. According to a Rajya Sabha notice, the panel will meet on May 21 and seek explanations from senior Education Ministry officials, including Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi and NTA Chairperson Pradeep Kumar Joshi.
The latest scrutiny comes after the NEET-UG 2026 examination, taken by over 22 lakh candidates on May 3, was cancelled earlier this week following allegations of a paper leak. A retest has now been scheduled for June 21, while the CBI continues its probe into the case.
Centre Inducts Younger Officers Into NTA
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet recently cleared the appointment of four new senior officers to the NTA, including two Joint Secretaries and two Joint Directors.
Anuja Bapat, a 1998-batch Indian Statistical Service officer, and Ruchita Vij, a 2004-batch IRS officer from Customs and Indirect Taxes, have been appointed as Joint Secretaries. Akash Jain, a 2013-batch IRS (Income Tax) officer, and Aditya Rajendra Bhojgadhiya, a 2013-batch Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer, have been appointed as Joint Directors.
The appointments are being seen as part of an attempt to infuse the NTA with a younger, tech-oriented administrative structure capable of handling large-scale digital examinations, data systems, operational monitoring and exam security.
The Centre has also announced that NEET-UG will move to a computer-based format from next year, a shift viewed as central to reducing risks linked to physical question papers and logistics.
Half Of Newly Created Senior Posts Still Vacant
The restructuring exercise itself traces back to October 2024, when the Centre approved the creation of 16 new senior administrative posts within the NTA. Despite the urgency attached to the reforms, appointments have moved slowly. So far, only eight of the 16 newly created senior posts have been filled.
Five Director-level posts continue to remain vacant. The 50 per cent vacancy rate has emerged as a fresh point of concern because these positions were specifically created to prevent precisely the kind of governance and operational failures exposed by the NEET controversy.
The proposed model envisioned 10 specialised verticals headed by Directors, along with two Additional Director General-level officers, to create clearer accountability within the organisation.
Radhakrishnan Panel Flagged Structural Weaknesses
One major concern flagged by the Radhakrishnan Committee was the NTA's heavy dependence on contractual staffing. According to information shared in Parliament last year, 43 personnel were working on contract at the agency even as crucial administrative posts remained vacant.
To address this, the government created:
- Eight Director-level posts
- Eight Joint Director-level posts
The Joint Director rank did not previously exist within the NTA's administrative structure, highlighting the scale of the restructuring effort.
Among the Joint Director appointments made earlier were Archana Shukla from the Indian Statistical Service, Amit Kumar from the Indian Supply Service and Shivani from the Indian Railway Personnel Service. With the addition of Akash Jain and Aditya Rajendra Bhojgadhiya, five of the eight Joint Director posts are now filled, leaving three vacant.
At the Director level, only three appointments have been made so far - Sandeep Kumar Mishra of the IRS (Income Tax), Pawan Kumar Sharma of the Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE), and Vijaykumar Vinayakrao Patil of the Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS).
Committee Proposed Wider Governance, Tech Reforms
The committee headed by former ISRO chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan recommended reforms extending far beyond examination security.
The panel proposed a complete organisational redesign of the NTA through dedicated functional verticals, permanent leadership structures, stronger internal governance systems, tighter oversight of outsourcing agencies, and improved coordination between the NTA, states, police authorities and examination-conducting institutions.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently acknowledged that further reforms within the NTA were still necessary.
"We have received several suggestions for reforms. Reforms are a continuous process... That the NTA becomes zero-error, this is our responsibility, and we will do it... Certainly, there is a need for further reforms in the NTA. We have taken this seriously. We have fixed the loopholes that were found in 2024. Despite that, this unfortunate incident has happened," he said.
'Many Vulnerabilities Still Exist': Panel Member
Pankaj Bansal, a member of the committee, told NDTV that the 2026 breach reflected many of the same systemic vulnerabilities identified after the 2024 crisis.
"We took about 37,000 suggestions," he said, adding that the committee eventually submitted a 185-page report carrying around 95 recommendations.
"One strong recommendation we had was that an Additional Secretary-level officer, or someone above that rank, should be the DG of NTA," he said.
"The leader has to be right. We've got the right leader in place," he added, while welcoming the appointment of Abhishek Singh as the agency's chief.
Bansal also pointed to Singh's work with DigiYatra and suggested similar technology-driven verification systems could eventually be adapted for examinations to strengthen candidate authentication and operational security.
According to him, the committee's recommendations extended far beyond paper security and included organisational restructuring, technology integration, student welfare measures and operational reforms within the NTA.
Supreme Court Petitions Seek Structural Changes
The reform debate has also moved into the courts. One petition before the Supreme Court of India, filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association, seeks restructuring or replacement of the NTA and demands that NEET-UG 2026 be reconducted under judicial supervision.
The petition also seeks measures such as digital locking of question papers, publication of centre-wise results, and a transition to a computer-based testing model.
Another petition filed by the United Doctors Front goes further, arguing that the NTA's current structure as a society registered under the Societies Registration Act creates what it calls an "accountability vacuum".
The plea seeks dissolution of the NTA in its present form and the creation of a statutory national testing authority through parliamentary legislation.
The petition argues that recurring paper leak controversies compromise merit-based selection and adversely affect the careers of millions of students.
NTA's Biggest Challenge Now Is Rebuilding Trust
For now, the Centre appears focused on stabilising the agency through administrative restructuring, technological upgrades and phased institutional reforms.
But with vacancies persisting at the top, ongoing investigations into examination irregularities and repeated controversies surrounding NEET, the challenge before the NTA is no longer limited to conducting exams - it is about rebuilding public trust in India's most important testing body.