Plea in Supreme Court to replace or restructure NTA after NEET-UG paper leak

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 13, 2025) seeking a direction to the Centre to “replace or fundamentally restructure” the National Testing Agency (NTA) following the cancellation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) Undergraduate exam for medical admissions in 2026 in colleges across the country.

The NTA cancelled the exam conducted on May 3 due to a question paper leak and widespread irregularities in the conduct of the exam. Over 22 lakh students had appeared in the national exam. NTA has announced a re-test.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation has been ordered into the leak. The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) pressed for the need for a “more robust, technologically advanced and autonomous body for conducting NEET”.

It said the court should intervene directly and appoint a high-powered monitoring committee chaired by a retired apex court judge and with members including a cyber security expert and a forensic scientist to supervise the re-conduct of the exam and ensure there were no further leaks.

“Direct the reconduct of the NEET-UG 2026 under the strict scrutiny of a judicially appointed high-powered committee until an interim oversight committee constituted by the apex court has verified and certified the security of the revised examination process,” the petition sought.

The plea, filed by advocate Tanvi Dubey, urged a direction to the government to mandate the “digital locking” of question papers and a transition to a computer-based test (CBT) model, as suggested in the aftermath of previous leaks, to eliminate the physical chain-of-custody risks.

FAIMA further asked for a direction to the CBI to file an investigation report before the apex court in four weeks. The report, the petition, must have details of the networks operating behind the leak; arrests made; persons charged; and the progress of the prosecution.

The petition said the NTA must forthwith publish the centrewise results of the NEET-UG 2026 to allow transparent detection of abnormalities.