Centre appoints key officials in NTA amid NEET paper leak row

The Centre has inducted five senior officials as joint secretary, joint director and three directors in the National Testing Agency (NTA), as part of its administrative and security overhauling exercise of the body amid the NEET paper controversy, especially after more than 50 of its staffers had been removed recently.

A 2012 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, Prasanna Venkatesh V, has been appointed as Director in the NTA under the Department of Higher Education for a period of five years, while Ravi Kumar Singh (an IPS officer of 2012 batch and belonging to UT cadre), too, has been appointed as Director in the agency for five years.

Apart from these two, Amit Samdariya (IRS C&IT of 2016 batch) has been appointed as Joint Director (Deputy Secretary level) in the NTA for a period of four years.

Another IRS officer of 2005 batch, Anshuman Sharma, has been appointed as Joint Secretary in the agency for five years while Sathiya S, a 2011 batch IRS officer, has been appointed as Director in the NTA on lateral shift basis for a period of up to 2030.

The NTA had recently removed more than 50 of its staff members after the NEET UG paper leak controversy. Apart from the abovementioned appointments, the agency has already advertised for 10 new professional leadership positions, including that of chief technology officer, chief finance officer, chief information security officer, general manager, test security, R&D and psychometrics.