The Supreme Court on Monday said the National Testing Agency (NTA) had not learnt lessons from the earlier NEET paper leak case as it sought responses from the Centre, the NTA and the CBI on petitions seeking replacement of the testing body with an autonomous mechanism to conduct the examination.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe directed the NTA to file an affidavit by Thursday detailing compliance with recommendations made by a court-appointed committee after the 2024 NEET controversy.

“It’s sad that they have not learnt their lessons,” the bench observed, referring to the earlier matter that had reached the apex court. The court also asked the Centre-appointed committee led by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan to submit details of the steps taken to implement the recommendations.

The court issued notice on a plea filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), which sought restructuring or replacement of the NTA, alleging repeated paper leaks had affected the rights of more than 22.7 lakh students.

FAIMA also sought the appointment of a high-powered monitoring committee, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and comprising cybersecurity and forensic experts, to oversee any re-examination process.

The undergraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), conducted by the NTA on May 3 for admission to medical courses, was cancelled on May 12 following allegations of a paper leak. The matter is currently under investigation by the CBI.

Inputs from PTI

Also Read: Four public sector banks to assist in CBSE payment gateway overhaul