The Supreme Court on Wednesday stressed the need to institutionalise and strengthen the National Testing Agency (NTA) to prevent question paper leaks and ensure secure and efficient conduct of entrance examinations.
A Bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe said the NTA must have experienced personnel, robust infrastructure and updated technology to preserve institutional expertise and prevent vulnerabilities in the examination process.
The Court underscored its obligation to establish a resilient testing authority, observing that institutionalising procedures is necessary to preserve institutional memory against administrative transfers and to implement required technological reforms.
The Court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking reforms in the NTA and the conduct of NEET-UG examinations following allegations of question paper leaks. The Bench directed the Centre to file an affidavit detailing the progress made in implementing the recommendations of the Radhakrishnan Committee, constituted in 2024 after the NEET-UG paper leak controversy, as further refined by the Nandan Nilekani Committee.
The Radhakrishnan Committee had recommended several measures to strengthen the examination system, while the Nilekani panel has examined the use of technology, including artificial intelligence and blockchain, in competitive examinations.
The Court said its concern was to create a permanent institutional framework covering secure examination infrastructure, cybersecurity, testing centres, confidential operations, research and development and a sovereign database.
The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Court about safeguards currently followed by the NTA, including multiple stages of question-paper preparation, sealed transportation, CCTV and CISF surveillance at printing facilities, GPS-tracked vehicles and storage of question papers in bank strong rooms.
The Bench, however, stressed that security protocols alone were insufficient unless supported by institutional memory and expertise.
The petitions before the Court include pleas seeking restructuring or replacement of the NTA, transition of NEET-UG to a computer-based test format, digital locking of question papers and greater transparency through centre-wise results.
The matter will be heard after three weeks, with the Centre required to file its affidavit before the next hearing.
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