New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern over recurring allegations of paper leaks in the NEET examination, remarking that it was “sad” that lessons had not been learned from previous incidents.
The court issued notices to the Centre, the Education Ministry, and the National Testing Agency (NTA) while hearing petitions related to the alleged paper leak in the NEET-UG 2026 examination.
A bench of the apex court also sought clarification from the NTA regarding the status of the monitoring committee that was supposed to be constituted following earlier court directions.
The matter came up during the hearing of a plea seeking the replacement or restructuring of the NTA and a fresh NEET-UG examination under judicial supervision.
The petition was filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), which alleged a “systemic failure” in the conduct of the examination.
The plea urged the court to direct the Union Government to replace the NTA with a more technologically advanced and autonomous examination body for conducting NEET and other national-level entrance tests.
The petition was filed shortly after the NTA cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 examination held on May 3 following allegations of a paper leak. The Central government had later handed over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
According to reports cited in the plea, “guess papers” circulated on messaging platforms allegedly matched over 100 questions from the actual examination.
The petition also sought the formation of a high-powered monitoring committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, along with cybersecurity and forensic experts, to supervise any re-conduct of the examination.
Additionally, the plea recommended introducing digital locking systems for question papers and transitioning NEET to a Computer Based Test (CBT) format to minimise risks associated with physical transportation and handling of exam papers.
The Supreme Court directed the NTA to file a counter-affidavit in the matter and listed the case for further hearing on Friday.
