A parliamentary panel has recommended a series of structural and examination-related reforms at the National Testing Agency (NTA), including stronger accountability, a permanent specialist cadre, compensation for candidates affected by examination cancellations, an independent grievance redressal mechanism and tighter safeguards against examination irregularities.
In its 382nd report on reforms and strengthening of the NTA, presented on Friday, the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports also called for a public registry of blacklisted examination vendors, disclosure of investigations into exam-related irregularities and a review of age and attempt limits for major examinations.
The committee noted that the agency was a party to 474 court cases in 2024–25, 356 of them tied to NEET-UG 2024.
The Department of Higher Education had told the committee that no paper leak had occurred in an NTA-conducted examination between the agency’s formation in 2017 and 2025, the report said. However, it recorded that this assertion differed from the views of some committee members and recommended greater public disclosure of examination-related investigations.
The recommendations come amid concerns over the conduct of national-level examinations, including the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026. The report noted that between 2018 and 2026, the NTA conducted more than 270 examinations involving over 6.6 crore candidates.
The committee flagged a staffing shortfall at the agency, with only 23 of its 39 sanctioned posts filled, all on deputation, and a vacancy rate of 41 per cent. The committee recommended that the NTA hire its own permanent specialists in areas such as psychometrics, examination security and data analytics, and discouraged the practice of assigning key posts as additional charges, as with the director general’s post between June 2024 and April 2026.
To reduce the risk of paper leaks, the panel called for a large, continuously updated question bank, with final papers prepared close to the examination and vetted by experts whose credentials and conflicts of interest have been checked. It also recommended an in-house cybersecurity team and artificial intelligence tools to detect suspicious response patterns. It further called for a public national registry of blacklisted examination vendors, listing associated individuals, the grounds for blacklisting and the authority that imposed it.
The committee said NEET-UG has no limit on the number of attempts and no real upper age limit, which has led to anomalies such as candidates above 70 years of age appearing, and asked the Education Ministry to explore reasonable age and attempt limits for all major examinations, with UGC-NET the only possible exception. It also recommended that the NTA spell out the duty of care it owes to candidates, which may include financial compensation for those affected by administrative cancellations and set timelines for grievance redressal.
The report noted that the NTA, being a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, is not directly accountable to Parliament in the way a statutory body would be, and does not lay an annual report before it. The committee said the department may introduce an appropriate parliamentary framework, and recommended that the NTA report annually to Parliament on cases registered, investigated and prosecuted under the Public Examinations Act.
On equity, the committee recommended annual audits of examination outcomes by state, gender, school board, medium of instruction and social category. The NTA has data on registrations by state but none on whether those candidates succeeded, the report said, adding that the findings should be published in the agency’s annual report and submitted to the Ministry of Education.
The panel said the NTA’s revenue surplus, which is held in fixed deposits, could be used to build government-owned computer-based testing (CBT) centres and run mock tests for candidates, and suggested that the agency help fund mid-sized IT labs in schools and colleges on the condition that they are made available for examinations.
For NEET-UG, the panel wanted a year-wise review of qualifying cut-offs so that the number of qualified candidates is better aligned with available seats, and asked the NTA to examine a two-stage format with a common preliminary test and specialised mains for different courses. It also recommended an independent mechanism, separate from the NTA, to audit examination security, investigate candidate grievances and report to the ministry.
The committee asked the NTA to immediately refocus on admission tests for higher education institutions, noting that it continues to conduct recruitment examinations despite the Radhakrishnan committee’s advice that it take on additional functions only after building greater capacity. It also flagged the growth of private coaching centres, saying the examination system has created a parallel curriculum that rewards familiarity with question patterns over conceptual understanding, and recommended a regulatory framework covering fee transparency, student safety and mental health.
The panel broadly backed a phased shift of NEET-UG from pen-and-paper to computer-based testing, calling it an outlier among NTA examinations, but said the transition must be preceded by significant investment in government-owned test centres.
 "Panel seeks NTA overhaul, stronger accountability and tighter exam security")
Connect with us on WhatsApp