Exam reforms: Supreme Court says will inspect NTA office; seeks report on progress by Nandan Nilekani panel

The Supreme Court on Friday sought a progress report from Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani-led task force, which has been constituted to make recommendations for strengthening and protecting the integrity of competitive examinations in India..A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe directed that an affidavit in this regard be filed within two weeks. "We direct the Joint Secretary coordinating with the High-Powered Committee, Joint Secretary, DoPT, who is coordinating with the High-Powered Committee, to file an affidavit indicating the progress made by the Committee. Let the affidavit be filed within another two weeks from today. List after Three weeks," the Court directed. Pertinently, the Court also said that the judges would like to visit the headquarters of the National Testing Agency (NTA) to examine the system in place."We will come there one day, myself and my brother," Justice Narasimha said.The Court was told that the NTA now has a separate permanent space near Minto Road. Justice Narasimha said that they would physically visit it and examine whether manpower is in place for a working system."We'll come and see whether the system is actually in place, whether it is working or not working, manpower, all these things," the judge said..Justice Narasimha added that at least half of the staff of NTA should be permanent and not everyone should be on deputation from other departments."There should be permanent staff. Also your relationship with other working institutions, how you are collaborating with them, how much data is... Whether we need statutory backing," the Court said..Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the Nandan Nilekani committee has conducted exhaustive consultations and may submit a report by the end of September.The Court remarked that its recommendations should not remain limited to paper and must translate into some effective changes on the ground."Progress is one matter. What are the suggestions made? Most important is institutionalisation of it. See, you know what we are a little concerned about. We had the Radhakrishnan Committee. So what we have today is only a committee report. Correct? Full stop. It must progress further. Consideration of the recommendations and it's implementation is the most important part," the Bench said.Mehta said the government remains committed and will implement the recommendations..The Court stressed the consideration of the advice of domain experts for bringing reforms in the examination system. "We will anyway be following it up. We will see how the suggestions come. Once the affidavit of the High-Powered Committee through the Joint Secretary is placed on record, we will know how it is progressing. We will accordingly deal with it," the Bench said..The Court was hearing a batch of petitions filed in light of the question paper leaks connected to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year.The petitions before the Court include one filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) through advocate Tanvi Dubey seeking replacement or restructuring of the NTA.Among other prayers, the plea has sought the “digital locking” of question papers, transition to a Computer-Based Test (CBT) model and publication of centre-wise results to detect anomalies. The petitioner has also filed an application with suggestions on how the shift to CBT could be carried out.Another petition, filed by the United Doctors Front through advocates Ritu Reniwal and Charu Mathur, seeks the establishment of a statutory national testing body, with better oversight and direct parliamentary accountability.A separate plea has also been filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Sudhakar Singh, social activist Anubhav Garg, Indian Medical Association national spokesperson Dhruv Chauhan and political leader Harisharan Devgan.The plea seeks a transition of NEET-UG to a CBT format and the replacement of the NTA with a new independent examination authority, among other prayers..[Read Live Coverage]