New Delhi, June 7: A Parliamentary panel has asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to define what constitutes a “paper leak” in its definition and whether any paper leaks have occurred in exams it conducted since 2018, sources said.
The panel’s questionnaire follows NTA officials’ appearance before it last week, where they contended that there was no paper leak from their system, claiming that some questions from a guess paper were in circulation, sources said.
The Parliamentary Committee for Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, headed by Congress member Digvijaya Singh, is investigating the NEET paper leak issue and the CBSE on-screen marking system (OSM) row, having summoned top government officials including those from the NTA and CBSE.
The committee has sought written answers from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the NTA on the issues of OSM system and the NEET exam, respectively.
The panel asked the NTA whether it conducted any inquiry into the allegations of irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 paper (outside of the CBI investigations).
The panel also asked the NTA about its staff strength for the last three years and fresh recruitments made since 2022. It also demanded the annual report the NTA submitted to the Higher Education Department for the last three years.
It sought a detailed report on each of the Radhakrishnan Committee Report’s 101 recommendations and the action taken by the NTA on each, the sources said.
The high-level committee of experts led by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan was set up in June 2024 by the Centre to give recommendations for transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through the NTA, including on its structure and functioning, reforms in the examination process and improvement in data security protocols.
While the CBSE must answer the panel’s questions by June 8, the NTA has been asked to submit written answers by June 10. Both agencies are yet to respond, sources add. (PTI)
