NEET paper leak: Centre assures Supreme Court it is going 'ten extra miles' for students

The Central government on Friday assured the Supreme Court that it is taking holistic steps to protect students and ensure the integrity of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

The submission was made before a Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe during today's hearing of a batch of petitions filed over the NEET question paper leak this year.

The Court today made it clear that it would go above and beyond to ensure that there are long-term safeguards put in place.

"We will monitor this. We will take that extra mile to ensure that things are put in place," it said.

Solicitor General of India (SG) Tushar Mehta assured the Court that the matter is being viewed with equal seriousness by the government.

"Government is going ten extra miles. Children’s problems have to be addressed. Everything is being done under the supervision of the highest executive level," he remarked.

"We can’t let it go on like this," the Court added, before adjourning the case till next week to await the filing of a detailed counter-affidavit by the government.

The petitions before the Court were filed after the Union government and the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled NEET-UG 2026 held on May 3 amid allegations of a widespread paper leak.

The Court today said that it is concerned about ensuring systemic reforms, rather than stop-gap solutions.

"We are focusing on institutionalisation. Adhocism is what has troubled all these years... his year because of what happened you had deployed the airforce to transport. But that’s only an adhoc situation. There must be something permanent," it observed.

SG Mehta assured the Court that a detailed response will be filed soon, indicating various steps taken by the government in the interest of the students.

"There is some progress. I can give a holistic view after a few days... We will explain right from the printing press till the time the student gets the (NEET) paper, what is the process in place. For children, there cannot be any adversarial response," he said.

The SG also indicated that the government had accepted reforms suggested to the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA) by a high-level committee set up in 2024 after the alleged leak of the NEET-UG 2024 exam.

"Radhakrishnan committee has been fully accepted," SG Mehta told the Court.

The Bench, in turn, urged the Centre to ensure that its response is comprehensive, covering steps taken to prevent future paper leaks as well as its response to suggestions that the NEET must become a Computer-Based Test CBT).

"Give information regarding computer based testing. Can it be shifted; how the data is to be transferred; how the data is to be protected? Data safety is the most important aspect. You indicate to us. The cybersecurity, who is to undertake it, how it is to be conducted etc. We are institutionalising so we can get out of this cycle," the Court said.

The Court further stated that it would be closely monitoring the matter throughout the year.

"After the affidavit comes we will see what the the status is. We will very closely monitor this. We will follow it up throughout the year. We will see that complete and total institutionalisation takes place," it said.

It proceeded to list the case next on Monday, July 27.

"Centre is expected to file its affidavit by then. The affidavit is to detail its proposals for preventing future paper leaks," the Court added.

The petitions before the Court include one filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) and represented through Advocate Tanvi Dubey, which has sought replacement or restructuring of the NTA.

Among other prayers, the plea 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.

NEET was plagued by allegations of a paper leak in 2024 as well. At the time, the Supreme Court accepted the NTA's stand that the leak was not widespread and declined to order a re-examination.

However, it warned that the NTA to be more careful and directed a seven-member committee formed by the Central government to examine the issues and address them.

In May this year, however, the Court noted with despair that no lessons seems to have been learnt by the NTA since then.

It proceeded to seek NTA's response to the present batch of pleas.

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