‘Traumatic’, accountability must in NEET paper leak case: SC as govt says PM keeping eye

Terming it “very traumatic” for students and their families, the Supreme Court on Friday called for fixing accountability in the NEET paper leak case even as the Centre said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was personally monitoring the situation.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) told the SC that it was all set to conduct the NEET (UG) in the computer-based test (CBT) mode from next year instead of the pen-and-paper mode after consulting the Centre.

In an affidavit filed in the top court, the NTA said a high-level committee of experts had recommended transition of the NEET (UG) to the CBT mode.

“The real problem won’t stop till actual accountability arises. Not in terms of so and so will be liable, it will be effective when we know which individual shoulders the responsibility. Unless you identify the specific duty bearers, it will be difficult,” a Bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe said.

“The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has never been in such a situation… You need to learn,” Justice Narasimha said, adding that the NTA should learn from other bodies such as the UPSC, which had been conducting the prestigious Civil Services examinations without any paper leak for decades.

Asking the Centre to file an affidavit in the matter, the Bench posted petitions seeking a direction to replace the NTA with a robust and autonomous body to conduct the medical entrance examination for further hearing in the second week of July after the summer vacation.

On May 12, the Centre and the NTA cancelled the NEET (UG)-2026 held on May 3 and the NEET paper leak case has since been handed over to the CBI, which has arrested at least 11 accused from Delhi, Gurugram, Jaipur, Nasik, Pune and some other places. The NEET has been rescheduled for June 21.

“The problem is that most institutions are ad hoc. It’s a phenomenon that is everywhere in the country. It’s not the individual who has the capability but the institution,” noted the Bench, which had on May 25 pulled up the NTA for not having learnt lessons from earlier NEET paper leaks.

“It is sad that they have not learnt their lessons. The matter travelled to this court earlier also. We passed an order, a committee was formed… a monitoring committee, which made some recommendations and they were accepted but…,” the Bench had said, while hearing petitions filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association and the United Doctors’ Front.

However, the government on Friday asserted that it was seriously concerned about the issue and PM Modi was personally monitoring it to ensure that there were no lacunae.

“The PM is personally monitoring it,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Bench. He said some new mechanisms had been put in place for the NEET-UG re-test on June 21.

The Bench, however, said, “It’s actually very traumatic if something like this happens — not just for the students but also their families and everybody… It’s not beyond us… We should not disappoint our youngsters.”

Agreeing with the Bench, Mehta said, “They (students and their families) invest so much emotions.”

The Bench also interacted with K Radhakrishnan, who heads the monitoring committee constituted by the top court in 2024 to suggest measures to make NEET fool-proof.

It wondered how the paper leak happened despite the committee’s recommendations and subsequent reforms. “How much monitoring of implementation has happened? How has this failure occurred? Despite a high-powered committee, if this incident happened, there is something wrong with the original recommendation or there is no proper implementation,” the Bench noted.

Radhakrishnan said the committee had submitted 35 long-term recommendations and around 60 short-term recommendations, most of which had already been implemented and that the reforms largely yielded positive results in the NEET (PG)-2025, which was conducted “mostly satisfactorily”, except for some power outage issues.

Regarding the NEET (UG)-2026, the former ISRO Chairman said the committee had made recommendations covering both the pre-examination and post-examination stages.

Alleging a “systemic failure”, the petitioners have sought replacement of the testing agency with a robust and autonomous body to conduct the medical entrance exam.

Seeking a complete overhaul of the national testing framework, they requested the top court to direct the government to replace the NTA with a “technologically advanced and autonomous body” to restore the integrity of medical entrance examinations.

The petitioners have demanded structural and technological reforms, including mandatory “digital locking” of question papers and a transition to the CBT mode to eliminate risks associated with the physical handling and transportation of examination material.

The association urged the top court to constitute a high-powered monitoring committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and including cybersecurity and forensic experts to oversee the re-conduct of the 2026 exam.

It sought a direction to the CBI to file a status report in four weeks detailing the progress of its probe into the paper leak, including the network uncovered, arrests made and steps taken towards prosecution of the accused.

“Guess papers” circulating on encrypted platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram matched more than 100 questions from the actual exam paper, it alleged.

The cancellation of the NEET (UG)-2026 has left more than 22 lakh medical aspirants and their families anxious about the fresh examination date, admit cards, examination centres and the counselling timeline, the petitioners submitted.