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The Supreme Court on Thursday (September 18) indicated that it may visit the National Testing Agency's (NTA) permanent office at Minto Road, New Delhi, to assess its functioning and monitor the progress of reforms following the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak.

A bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe was hearing petitions filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (represented by Advocate Tanvi Dubey) and United Doctors Front (represented by Advocate Charu Mathur), seeking structural reforms in the NTA in the wake of the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak.

At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union, informed the Court that a new High-Powered Task Force headed by Nandan Nilekani had extensively consulted the High-Level Committee of Experts (HLCE) headed by Dr. K. Radhakrishnan.

He sought time until the end of September to file an affidavit setting out the Task Force's report.

Justice Narasimha however suggested that a member of the Task Force should file an affidavit detailing the suggestions and progress made. He said that the Joint Secretary to the Union, who is a member of the Task Force, could file the affidavit.

The Judge emphasised that the institutionalisation of the NTA and implementation of the recommendations were particularly important. “Progression of the recommendations and its implementation is the most important,” he said.

When Justice Narasimha asked if NTA has now a place to carry out its functions, SG Mehta informed that the NTA office is now a separate permanent place at Minto Road.

"We will come there one day. Me and my brother to see if the system is working or not, the manpower etc. See permanency of a place and at least half of the staff, not everybody should be deputationists there. There should be permanent staff," Justice Narasimha told orally.

The Court also allowed an intervention application filed by Dr. Mangala Kohli, former Assistant Director General of Health Services and founder of the NEET examination.

As for the suggestions by the petitioners, Dubey pointed out that the Radhakrishnan Committee had referred to the need to appoint domain experts for the governing body. To this, Justice Narasimha said that the Radhakrishan Committee is substantially concerned with this issue and even the task force is taking care of this. 

Another suggestion raised by Dubey is that the transformation from pen-paper to computer-based examination should be accompanied by a timeline. SG Mehta responded that the government is cognisant and that something will have to be done.

Hearing the parties, the Court ordered NTA to upload the affidavit filed by them on its website for the benefit of other stakeholders. 

It ordered: "Pursuant to our order dated, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education has filed affidavit in compliance of paragraph 3 of the order in suggestions contained in notice filed by the petitioner has been placed before High Powered Committee for its consideration. It is also stated that NTA is transitioning from exam specific units to to functional vertical structure to build specialised to domain specific capabilities across core operational areas. NTA leadership has been upgraded with Secretary-level officer as Director General supported by cadre level officers from different services along with open market recruitment of domain specialists in security, HR, and RND.

It is further stated that senior leadership of NTA accordingly draw officers from IAS, IPS, Indian Statistical Services etc brinding together specialists expertise across multiple domains.  Confidential offices have been relocated to dedicated 55,520 sq government facility minto road, New Delhi. It is also stated that it is secured by 39 CISF personnel, X-ray screening etc.

The affidavit indicates various other progress. We direct NTA to place the affidavit before its web portal so that progrss can be looked into by other stake holders.

We direct the Joint Secretary to the High Powered Task Force to file affidavit indicating the progress within 2 weeks."

The bench has also asked that a dedicated email ID be created so that suggestions can be send to the email.

Case Details: FEDERATION OF ALL INDIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION v NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY AND ORS.|W.P.(C) No. 651/2026 and others

Appearances: FAIMA by Advocate Tanvi Dubey and Advocate Charu Mathur and Ritu Raniwal, AOR for UDF

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