NEET UG Paper Leak: Parliamentary Standing Committee Calls for Legislative Mechanism to Ensure Accountability
Parliamentary Standing Committee has issued a series of guidelines and changes to be adopted by the NTA amidst the NEET UG Paper LEak. Suggestions to improve security, question bank, paper setting techniques for upcoming exams.
A Parliamentary Standing Committee has examined the role of the National Testing Agency amidst the NEET UG Paper Leak and the cancellation of the examination and called for a legislative mechanism ensuring accountability of the agency.
The Parliamentary Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, in its detailed report, stated that the education department may introduce an appropriate Parliamentary framework which ensures NTA Accountability to Parliament. The past efforts of the NTA will be recognised as improvements, and the cancellation of the NEET UG 2026 exam implies that further improvement is necessary,
NEET UG 2026 examination, conducted on May 3, 2026, was cancelled on May 12, 2026 amid allegations of paper leak. The panel added that organised networks profiting from exam fraud are adaptive and resourceful and will always seek the weakest link in the chain. NTA needs adequate staff, robust security protocols, clear accountability mechanisms and digitalisation of operations and examinations, ensuring that it stays ahead of any challenge.
Major Reforms Planned
The Parliamentary Panel suggested conducting the NEET UG Exams in the computer-based mode instead of the offline pen-and-paper mode, involvement of government-owned and operated centres for conducting the exam and reduction of reliance on private centres. Board-based question banks and allowing students arriving late at centres to sit for the test after recording an undertaking were also suggested by the panel.
Question Banks and Reliable Experts
The panel stated that investment in question banks is the most viable defence against paper leaks in the long run, and repeated use of the same question sets or the practice of having examiners set new question papers every year can be a risk to the integrity of the examination process. The panel suggested that NTA should invest in building a large, diverse and continuously updated question bank which can be drawn on to set papers without the advance knowledge of the question-setters.
NTA must also rely on experts from the most renowned educational institutions institutions including IITs, AIIMS, and IIMs, to develop question banks and for translation, the panel suggested. A system to check the track record of experts must be set to establish their integrity and rule out any conflict of interest before recruiting them.
Permanent Staffing Solutions
The committee also called for permanent staff for the NTA rather than deputation staff, noting that almost 41% of vacancies are in sanctioned posts. Out of the 39 sanctioned posts in the agency, only 23 officers are currently in position and on deputation to the NTA and all 39 permanent posts are currently filled through deputation mode. NTA must therefore hire its own officers permanently with a particular emphasis on specialists in psychometrics, examination security, digital infrastructure, data analytics, and examination logistics. The committee also noted that 16b posts under the Central Staffing Scheme should be treated as a supplementary layer of senior leadership and not as a substitute for domain expertise.
Sherin is an education journalist with over 7 years of experience. Over her tenure of working with top media houses like Careers 360 and then Jagran Josh, Sherin has covered various entrance examinations liek JEE Main, NEET, CUET, GATE, etc. as well as various state board and CBSE results. Her understanding of the education ecosystem coupled with her own experience of teaching as an Assistant Professor of nearly 2 years helps her provide a comprehensive perspective to students. She has a Masters Degree in Communication from Madras Christian College. Apart from covering education news, Sherin also enjoys reading and cooking.
