'Sad they have not learnt their lesson': SC pulls up NTA in NEET 2026 leak row, issues notice

New Delhi: Observing that the National Testing Agency (NTA) appears to have failed to learn from past controversies, the Supreme Court today issued notice to the NTA and the Ministry of Education.

The bench was hearing petitions seeking the replacement of NTA with a new body constituted by an Act of Parliament amid NEET UG 2026 paper leak row and implementation of reforms recommended by the Radhakrishnan Committee after the NEET 2024 paper leak controversy.

During the hearing of a petition filed by the United Doctors Front (UDF), the division bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe expressed concern over the situation despite previous judicial intervention and orally remarked, "It's sad that they have not learnt their lesson."

The petition raised concerns regarding the functioning of the NTA, sought implementation of the recommendations of the high-powered committee headed by Prof. K. Radhakrishnan, and called for the creation of a new examination body through an Act of Parliament.

Advocate-on-Record Dr. Charu Mathur, Advocate-on-Record Ritu Reniwal and their legal team appeared on behalf of UDF. The Court issued notice in the matter and directed that copies of the petition be served upon the Solicitor General of India and all respondents.

Noting that a committee had already been constituted after the NEET-UG 2024 controversy and that its recommendations had been accepted, the Court sought details on the steps taken to implement those measures. It directed the NTA to file an affidavit clarifying the present status regarding compliance and functioning of the monitoring mechanism constituted on 14th November.

The Court also directed Prof. K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the high-powered committee, to submit an affidavit detailing the steps taken to ensure compliance with the committee's recommendations and earlier directions issued by the Court. 

The matter has now been listed for hearing on May 29 and the court has asked the Learned Solicitor General of India, Shri Tushar Mehta Ji, to appear in the matter.

Speaking after the hearing, Dr. Lakshya Mittal, Chairperson, United Doctors Front (UDF), in a statement to Medical Dialogues, said, "Today’s observations by the Hon’ble Supreme Court reflect the seriousness of the concerns being raised repeatedly by students and stakeholders across the nation. UDF remains committed to ensuring transparency, accountability and structural reforms in the examination system."

Also read- Dissolve NTA, implement statutory framework: Doctors' body moves Supreme Court

In a separate but related matter, the Supreme Court also heard a petition filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA). The case was listed before a bench comprising Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe and was represented by Advocate Tanvi Dubey.

During the hearing, the Court issued notice and made another sharp observation against the examination agency, stating, "NTA has not learnt its lesson yet."

The bench directed the NTA to file an affidavit within three days and posted the matter for further hearing on May 29.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the FAIMA in their petition urged the Court to issue directions to the Centre to either replace NTA or fundamentally restructure it "with a more robust, technologically advanced, and autonomous body for conducting NEET."

Apart from this, the plea has also demanded the direct appointment of a High-Powered Monitoring Committee chaired by a retired Supreme Court Judge, a cybersecurity expert, and a forensic scientist, to supervise the re-conduct of NEET-UG 2026, until a National Examination Integrity Commission (NEIC) is formally constituted to oversee the re-examination and ensure no further leaks occur.

NEET cancelled

The NEET UG 2026 exam was conducted on May 3 by the National Testing Agency and was held from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM in pen-and-paper mode. Over 22.7 lakh aspirants appeared for the examination this year. It took place across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad, covering over 5,400 centres.

However, the NTA on May 12, 2026, declared the cancellation of the examination held on May 3 and subsequently announced the re-examination on June 21, 2026.

The following decision triggered anxiety and anger among lakhs of medical aspirants across the country, many of whom said they were feeling shocked, stressed and uncertain about their future. While some aspirants supported the decision to cancel the examination in the interest of fairness, others said that they are being forced to suffer because of the actions of a few people.

The NTA had further informed that the Government of India decided to refer the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation for a comprehensive inquiry into the allegations after it declared to re-conduct the NEET UG 2026 examination soon. Based on the centre's direction, the CBI registered an FIR in the case and arrested around 11 accused involved with it.

This came in the backdrop of the probe by the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group, which reportedly found a “guess paper” containing more than 100 questions similar to those asked in the NEET UG examination. The question paper series under scrutiny has been described as a “guess paper” which reportedly contained around 410 questions. Out of these, nearly 120 questions are alleged to have appeared in the Biology and Chemistry sections of the examination. The investigation found that the leaked papers were circulated through WhatsApp and Telegram groups ahead of the NEET UG 2026 examination.

As the investigation widened, Rajasthan SOG and later the CBI uncovered what officials described as a multi-state network involving students, coaching-linked persons and middlemen. The alleged leak reportedly spread from Kerala and Rajasthan to Haryana, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and other states.

Also read- NEET 2026 controversy: Doctors' body moves Supreme Court seeking NTA replacement, committee-monitored re-exam