‘Failed to learn any lessons’: SC sharply rebukes NTA on NEET leak

New Delhi: India’s top court sharply rebuked the National Testing Agency (NTA) over the alleged NEET-UG 2026 question paper leak, observing that the agency had failed to learn any lessons despite the Supreme Court’s stern directions after the 2024 scandal. A Bench comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe reportedly expressed strong displeasure that lapses continued even after the court had accepted recommendations made by a high-level reform panel headed by former ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan.

The Bench directed the NTA and the committee to file affidavits within three days detailing the steps taken to implement the panel’s recommendations. The matter will be heard again on Friday. The court had earlier tasked the committee with overhauling examination security mechanisms, including question paper transportation, CCTV surveillance, candidate verification, encryption protocols, digital tracking systems and grievance redressal procedures.

The fresh controversy has intensified demands for the NTA to be dismantled altogether. Students, along with doctors’ bodies such as the Federation of All India Medical Association and United Doctors Front, approached the Supreme Court seeking the agency’s dissolution, arguing that repeated failures had destroyed public confidence in one of the country’s most crucial entrance examinations.

The NEET-UG 2026 examination, conducted on May 3 across more than 5,400 centres nationwide, saw participation from nearly 2.27 million students. In a deeply damaging revelation, the CBI reportedly found that members of the very committee entrusted with preparing the question paper were involved in leaking it. More than ten people have already been arrested in connection with the case.