The Supreme Court has directed the Union Ministry of Education to establish robust "institutional memory" and "institutional plurality" within the National Testing Agency (NTA).

While hearing a writ petition preferred by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) following the systemic collapse and cancellation of the May 3 examination, the apex court sharply criticized the prevailing culture of institutional ad-hocism and diffused obligations.

The Bench mandated the Centre to submit a comprehensive blueprint detailing structural, physical, and intellectual reforms to permanently eliminate the risk of examination malpractices, slating the matter for further hearing in the second week of July.

The Bench comprising Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe ordered, "Pursuant to our direction, the Director of the NTA has filed an affidavit indicating the process by which the HPC recommendations were implemented. Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, who also heads the screening committee, has also filed an affidavit indicating the implementation of the recommendations of the HPC and the future course of action...We direct the Union of India—the Ministry of Education (HRD) will be substituted instead of the Health Ministry—to file an affidavit on how the conduct of the exam this year and thereafter will be done. In that process, it will indicate the method by which an institutional memory through continuity of human resources, and institutional plurality by the composition of experts, etc., is put in place. The endeavour is to ensure that the NTA would have the wherewithal, both physical and intellectual, to ensure that no incident such as the 2024 or 2026 examination occurs. List in the second week of July."


Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Union.

During the course of the hearing, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta placed on record two separate compliance affidavits filed by the Director (Legal) of the NTA and Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, the chairperson of the High-Powered Expert Committee. The SG submitted before the Bench that the comprehensive recommendations and remedial measures proposed by the Expert Committee were slated for implementation during the current academic year.

Justice Narasimha asked, "We want to ask—you originally were part of the expert committee—how much monitoring has happened regarding the implementation? How did this failure occur? Despite your monitoring on the basis of the HPC (High-Powered Committee) recommendations, if this incident has happened, then there would be a problem with the recommendations, or the monitoring may not have happened."

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan submitted, "We had recommended 60 suggestions. Out of the first 60, mostly they have been implemented. A few are still in the process. In 2025, NEET UG was conducted satisfactorily. There were incidents of power failures in some centres; otherwise, the recommendations were implemented and it worked...There are two areas. The first thing we have done is the involvement of all state governments and district administrations for the secure conducting of the test."

The Bench, however, questioned the efficacy of the monitoring mechanism, noting that if structural failures persisted despite active oversight, the flaw lay either within the recommendations themselves or in a lapse of monitoring. In response, Dr. Radhakrishnan clarified that out of the sixty systemic reforms suggested by the panel, a vast majority stood fully implemented, while the remaining few progressed in a phased manner. He further deposed that the NEET UG examination for the preceding year of 2025 concluded satisfactorily, save for isolated instances of power disruptions at select centers.

Justice Narasimha remarked, "The real problem won’t stop until 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 duty-holders, it will be a diffused obligation."

When queried by the Bench regarding unforeseen contingencies that bypassed the panel's contemplation, Dr. Radhakrishnan maintained that certain advanced security practices were actively being deployed to fortify the upcoming re-examination scheduled for May 21. He assured the Court that the monitoring committee convened on a regular basis to ensure that the spirit of the mandates remained uncompromised.

Expressing deep concern over the prevailing institutional framework, the Bench emphasized that effective deterrence could not be achieved through a diffused sense of obligation. The Court remarked that actual accountability arose only when specific duty-holders were identified to shoulder the responsibility for failures. Corroborating this stance, the Solicitor General conceded that the buck must stop somewhere, adding that the Union Government remained profoundly concerned about the future of the nation's youth.

SG Tushar Mehta said, "The Hon’ble Prime Minister is personally supervising this."

Justice Narasimha remarked, "It is very traumatic if this is happening. We cannot disappoint our students. It is not merely the student; it is the family, too. It involves so much emotion, love, time, and years of study. It is not beyond us."

Previously, the Court said it was sad that NTA has not learned lessons from the earlier NEET paper leak as it sought response from the Centre, NTA and CBI on pleas for replacement of the testing agency with a robust and autonomous body to conduct the medical entrance exam.

The medical body has urged the top court for direct restructuring or replacement of NTA with a robust and autonomous system to conduct NEET-UG, citing a "direct assault" on the fundamental rights of over 22.7 lakh students through recurring paper leaks. It has also sought a direction to appoint a high-powered monitoring committee until a fresh body is formally constituted to oversee the re-examination.

It further said the committee should comprise a retired Supreme Court judge as the chair, along with a cybersecurity expert and a forensic scientist, to ensure that no further leaks occur. The undergraduate-level National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) held on May 3 by the NTA for admissions to medical education programmes was cancelled on May 12 amid allegations of paper leak, which are now being probed by the CBI.

Cause Title: Federation Of All India Medical Association v. National Testing Agency and Ors. [W.P.(C) No. 651/2026] 

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