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The Supreme Court on Friday termed the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 due to paper leak as “very traumatic”, questioning the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) lack of accountability mechanisms and institutional continuity, while directing the Union government to spell out measures to ensure that incidents like the 2024 and 2026 examination breaches do not recur.

The court’s remarks came while examining affidavits filed by the NTA and the High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC). (HT file photo)A bench of justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said that recurring failures despite last year’s reforms indicated deeper institutional shortcomings within the examination system.

“It is very traumatic if this is happening. We cannot disappoint our students. It is not merely the student, it’s the family too…It is so much of emotions, love, time, years of study,” the bench observed during the hearing.

The court’s remarks came while examining affidavits filed by the NTA and the High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC), headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Radhakrishnan regarding implementation of reforms recommended after the NEET-UG 2024 controversy.

The present proceedings arise out of petitions filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association and United Doctors Front, represented through advocates Tanvi Dubey and Charu Mathur, after the May 12 cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 following allegations of paper leak.

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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the expert committee’s recommendations were largely implemented before NEET-UG 2026 and that additional security measures were being introduced for the re-examination scheduled later this month.

However, the bench repeatedly questioned how another paper leak could occur despite the existence of a monitoring committee and implementation of recommendations.

“We want to ask, you originally were part of the expert committee, how much monitoring has happened about the implementation? How did this failure occur?” the bench asked Radhakrishnan.

Radhakrishnan responded that out of 60 recommendations made by the committee, most had already been implemented while a few remained under process. He claimed that NEET-UG 2025 was conducted satisfactorily and that state governments and district administrations had now been deeply involved in securing examinations.

The court, however, stressed that the core problem lay in absence of clearly identifiable responsibility. “The real problem won’t stop till actual accountability arises. Unless you identify the duty holders it will be a diffused obligation,” it emphasised.

Also Read: NTA plans age bar, attempt cap for NEET-UG, claims it wasn’t a ‘paper leak’

When Mehta submitted that “the buck must stop somewhere”, the court responded that institutions cannot depend merely on individuals.

“The problem with most of our institutions is adhocism. The knowledge doesn’t percolate. It is not the individual who has the capability. It is the institution,” the bench observed, while asking whether the NTA possessed sufficient “institutional memory”.

Mehta told the court that the NTA was now drawing domain experts from institutions such as the IIT system and that new anti-tampering mechanisms had been put in place, though he declined to disclose operational details publicly.

Taking the affidavits on record, the bench directed the Union government to file a comprehensive affidavit detailing how future examinations would be conducted and what permanent institutional mechanisms would be created within the NTA.

“We direct the Union of India…to indicate the method in which an institutional memory through continuity of human resource, institutional plurality by composition of experts etc is put in place,” the court ordered.

The bench added that the endeavour must be to ensure that the NTA has the “physical and intellectual wherewithal” to prevent incidents similar to the NEET-UG 2024 and 2026 paper leaks.

According to the affidavit filed by the NTA, the agency is actively considering transitioning NEET-UG from the present pen-and-paper format to a computer-based test (CBT) mode in consultation with the Union health ministry and the National Medical Commission.

The affidavit noted that among all major examinations conducted by the NTA, only NEET-UG 2026 continued in pen-and-paper mode. It said the expert committee had specifically recommended migration to CBT mode along with multi-session and multi-stage testing.

The NTA also informed the court that several long-term reforms were being implemented, including creation of at least 1,000 secure testing centres in government institutions, AI-based CCTV monitoring, blockchain-backed security infrastructure and international collaboration on examination integrity systems.

The affidavit stated that AI-enabled monitoring of CCTV feeds has already been operationalised and mobile jammers supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited were installed at all 5,432 NEET-UG 2026 examination centres.

It further said that the agency was strengthening cybersecurity infrastructure, overhauling testing centres, conducting rigorous background verification of personnel involved in sensitive examinations and institutionalising randomisation policies for paper setters, moderators and translators.

The NTA also informed the court that AI tools would be used for at least 85% of translation work in order to reduce human intervention and minimise the possibility of security compromise.

The petitioners in the case have sought sweeping reforms in the examination system, including replacement of the NTA with a statutory body possessing greater accountability and technological capacity to conduct high-stakes national examinations.

The investigation into the alleged NEET-UG 2026 irregularities is currently being handled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has arrested 13 accused so far in connection with the paper leak and cheating cases linked to the examination.