‘Very traumatic’: Supreme Court pulls up Center over NEET paper leak

Calling the NEET paper leak controversy "very traumatic” for students and their families, the Supreme Court on Friday stressed the need for accountability in the matter while hearing petitions seeking reforms in the conduct of the medical entrance examination.A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said youngsters should not be disappointed by repeated lapses in major examinations. “We should not disappoint our youngsters,” the bench observed during the hearing.“It is actually very traumatic if something like this happens, not just for the students, but also their families and everybody,” the court said, adding, “They invest so much emotion.”The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions, including one seeking restructuring or replacement of the National Testing Agency (NTA) with an independent and stronger body to conduct NEET and other major entrance examinations.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that the government was taking the concerns of students seriously and several new mechanisms had already been introduced for the upcoming re-test.“The real problem won’t stop till actual accountability arises,” the bench observed while discussing the repeated concerns over examination integrity.Mehta told the court that the government was fully aware of the seriousness of the issue and added that Prime Minister Modi was personally monitoring the developments so that “there is no lacunae”.The National Testing Agency had cancelled the NEET UG 2026 examination held on May 3 after allegations of a paper leak surfaced. The matter is currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).The re-examination is scheduled to take place on June 21 under new monitoring measures announced by the NTA.Last year too, the apex court had heard multiple petitions after allegations of irregularities in NEET UG 2024.