Responsibility has to be fixed for paper leak: SC on NEET

NEW DELHI: Noting that medical entrance exam NEET-UG has been marred by mismanagement in recent years, Supreme Court on Friday said responsibility has to be fixed on a certain person or authority in case of paper leak which happened this year. The Centre agreed, saying the buck must stop somewhere.

The court said a paper leak is a very traumatic experience for students and parents, who devote a whole year for preparation.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said National Testing Agency was facing a problem of ad-hocism and it should learn from Union Public Service Commission which has been conducting various exams smoothly over the years.

It issued notice to the Centre, seeking its response on strengthening the present system of conducting the exam, and making NEET fool-proof.

"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. Unless you identify the specific duty-bearers, it will be difficult," the bench said. It said the problem is that most institutions are run on ad-hocism and this phenomenon is prevalent everywhere in the country.

Former Isro chairman Dr. K Radhakrishnan, head of the monitoring committee set up by SC in 2024 to suggest recommendations to strengthen NEET-UG's conduct, was also present in court.

Radhakrishnan told SC that the committee had submitted 35 long-term and around 60 short-term recommendations, most of which had been implemented. He said reforms had largely yielded positive results in NEET-PG 2025, which was conducted "mostly satisfactorily".