The Supreme Court on May 29, 2026 directed the Ministry of Human Resource Development to file a comprehensive affidavit on how to conduct annual national examinations and strengthen the National Testing Agency (NTA), including by adding domain experts, while hearing a batch of petitions arising from the leak of question papers of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate 2026 (NEET UG 2026).
A Bench of Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe said that issues affecting the conduct of NEET would persist unless individual accountability was fixed, and called the situation sensitive.
“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 lies. Unless you identify the duty holders it will be a diffused obligation,” the Bench said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government, informed the Court that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was personally supervising the situation. “The Hon’ble Prime Minister is personally supervising this,” he said.
Background
NEET UG 2026, the pre-medical entrance examination for candidates seeking admission to government and private medical colleges in India, was held on May 3, 2026. The Union government and the NTA subsequently cancelled the examination following allegations of a paper leak. A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the allegations has been ordered.
NEET was similarly plagued by allegations of paper leak in 2024. On that occasion, the NTA had not ordered a re-examination on the ground that the leak was limited to Hazaribagh and Patna. Petitions were filed before the Supreme Court, which accepted the NTA’s stand and declined to direct re-examination, but issued directions to strengthen the NEET examination framework. It had directed the NTA to avoid “flip flops” with respect to the safety of strongrooms where question papers are kept and the grant of compensatory marks. It had also directed a seven-member committee formed by the Central government to examine and address the issues arising from the 2024 leak.
Court’s Observations on Accountability and Institutional Reform
The Court called the paper leak incident traumatic and emphasised that the country must not disappoint students and their families.
“It is very traumatic if this is happening. We cannot disappoint our students. It is not merely the student, it’s the family too… It is so much of emotions, love, time, years of study. It is not beyond us,” the Bench remarked.
The Court observed that the central problem with India’s institutions was ad-hocism, and that institutional knowledge must be embedded in the body rather than in individuals.
“The knowledge doesn’t percolate. It is not the individual who has the capability. It is the institution,” the Bench said.
The Court directed that an affidavit be filed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, rather than the Union Ministry of Health, setting out a plan for conducting the annual examinations and improving the NTA’s human resource by adding domain experts. It called for a full-time expert body within the NTA. The matter has been listed for further consideration in July 2026.
“The endeavor is to ensure that NTA would have the wherewithal, physical and intellectual, to ensure that no incident such as 2024/2026 examination occur,” the Bench said.
High-Powered Committee’s Report
The Court had on May 25, 2026 directed the NTA to file an affidavit regarding the monitoring committee constituted following the 2024 leak, and had also directed K. Radhakrishnan, the committee’s chairman, to file an affidavit about steps taken to ensure compliance with its directions.
At the hearing on May 29, the Court questioned Radhakrishnan about progress since the constitution of the high-powered committee (HPC). Radhakrishnan informed the Court that 60 suggestions had been made, most of which had been implemented, and that the 2025 NEET UG had been conducted satisfactorily, with only isolated power failures at some centres. He added that there was now involvement of all state governments and district administrations to ensure secure examinations.
The Court questioned whether the latest paper leak indicated a gap in the HPC’s recommendations or in their monitoring.
“Despite your monitoring on the basis of HPC recommendation, if this incident has happened, then there would be a problem with the recommendation. Or the monitoring may not have happened,” the Bench remarked.
Solicitor General Mehta told the Court that new security mechanisms had been put in place for the re-examination scheduled on June 21, 2026, but declined to disclose their details in open court on the ground that doing so could defeat their purpose.
Petitions Before the Court
A batch of petitions has been filed before the Supreme Court arising from the NEET UG 2026 paper leak. One petition was filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) through Advocate Tanvi Dubey, seeking replacement or restructuring of the NTA. It has asked the Supreme Court to direct re-conduct of NEET UG 2026 under the supervision of a judicially appointed committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, and has sought reforms including digital locking of question papers, transition to a Computer-Based Test (CBT) model and publication of centre-wise results to detect anomalies.
Another petition was filed by the United Doctors Front through Advocates Ritu Reniwal and Charu Mathur, attacking the legal structure of the NTA itself and seeking its dissolution in its present form.
A separate petition filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Sudhakar Singh, social activist Anubhav Garg, Indian Medical Association national spokesperson Dhruv Chauhan and political leader Harisharan Devgan has sought the immediate transition of NEET UG to a Computer-Based Test format, including for the re-examination scheduled on June 21, 2026.
Case Details
- Court: Supreme Court of India
- Bench: Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe
- Date of Hearing: May 29, 2026
- Next Date: matter listed for July 2026
Appearances:
- For Union of India / NTA: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta
- For FAIMA: Advocate Tanvi Dubey
- For United Doctors Front: Advocates Ritu Reniwal and Charu Mathur
- For Sudhakar Singh and others: not specified in source
