NEET paper leak: "Prime Minister personally supervising," govt tells Court

By Mahima Katal

The Supreme Court on Friday raised serious concerns over the alleged NEET-UG paper leak controversy, with the Centre informing the Court that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally supervising the matter to ensure there are “no lacunae” in the investigation.

Appearing before the bench, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government was treating the issue with utmost seriousness, considering the impact on lakhs of students and their families. “We are dealing with youths, and the government is seriously concerned about their concerns,” Mehta told the Court.

During the hearing, the bench stressed the need for stronger safeguards in the examination system. Justice J.B. Pardiwala observed that unlike UPSC examinations, which have largely remained free from such controversies, important lessons must now be learned from the present situation.

The Court noted that the controversy has caused immense trauma to students and their families due to the years of preparation, emotional investment, and uncertainty surrounding the examination process.

The Supreme Court directed the Education Ministry to file an affidavit detailing how the process of conducting and concluding examinations would be strengthened year after year.

The Court also sought details on how institutional memory, specialised expertise, and the deployment of domain experts would be ensured within the examination framework.

Questioning the existing system, the Supreme Court asked whether the mechanism had truly been institutionalised and underlined the importance of fixing accountability.

“The real problem will not stop until actual accountability is fixed,” the Court observed, adding that accountability should not remain limited to vague collective responsibility but must clearly identify where responsibility lies.

The bench further remarked that in situations like this, collective responsibility often leads only to repeated meetings and committees without clarity on who is actually answerable. The remark comes Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging NEET-UG cancellation conducted by the NTA.