NEET 2026 controversy: Doctors' body moves Supreme Court seeking NTA replacement, committee-monitored re-exam
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing controversy over the alleged paper leak and subsequent cancellation of the NEET 2026 held on May 3, 2026, a doctors' body has moved the Supreme Court, demanding the replacement of the National Testing Agency (NTA), the body responsible for holding the exam.
The plea, which has been filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) through advocate Tanvi Dubey, 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.
The doctors' body has also sought directions from the Apex Court to re-conduct the NEET UG 2026 examination under strict judicial scrutiny. It has urged the Court that the re-exam should be monitored by a judicially appointed high-powered committee until the proposed NEIC or an interim oversight committee constituted by the Court has verified and certified the security of the revised examination process.
Another prayer of the association is that the Court mandate the Locking of question papers and a transition to a "Computer-Based Test" (CBT) model as suggested in the aftermath of previous leaks, to eliminate the physical chain-of-custody risks.
Further, the association has urged the Court to issue directions to the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to file a status report within four weeks regarding the investigation into the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, including the network identified, arrests made, persons charged, and the progress of prosecution. The plea also seeks the immediate publication of centre-wise results of NEET-UG 2026 to allow transparent detection of anomalies.
Yesterday, NTA declared that the NEET 2026 examination, which was conducted on May 3, 2026, as cancelled.
On its official X (formerly Twitter) handle, the NTA posted, "In continuation of its press release dated 10 May 2026, the National Testing Agency wishes to inform candidates, parents, and members of the public of the following decisions taken in respect of NEET (UG) 2026. NTA had, on 8 May 2026, referred the matters then under consideration to the central agencies for independent verification and necessary action, consistent with its standing commitment to the fair, secure, and credible conduct of the national examinations entrusted to it. On the basis of the inputs subsequently examined by NTA in coordination with the central agencies, and the investigative findings shared by the law enforcement agencies and in order to ensure that there is transparency in the system, the National Testing Agency, with the approval of the Government of India, has decided to cancel the NEET (UG) 2026 examination conducted on 3 May 2026, and to re-conduct the examination on dates that will be notified separately."
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.
