NEET: SC directs NTA to inform on steps taken to implement recommendations of Radhakrishnan panel

The Supreme Court has directed the National Testing Agency to report steps taken to implement recommendations of the Radhakrishnan panel and Nandan Nilekani committee on NEET reforms. The court stressed the need to institutionalise examination reforms, while the government maintained that existing safeguards make the system difficult to breach

New Delhi: Observing that there is a need to institutionalise the reforms in NEET exams, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the National Testing Agency to inform it about the steps taken to implement recommendations of the Radhakrishnan panel and the Nandan Nilekani committee.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to file a fresh affidavit in the matter.

---

“The Radhakrishnan Committee has correctly said it is a systemic problem which needs institutionalisation, which is the most important part of it. This process on paper everything is good. But then one exam happens and by the time the second exam happens it is a new picture all together,” the bench said.

At the outset, Mehta told the court the process adopted with safeguards right from printing the NEET question paper till the students get it.

The law officer asserted that the system in place for the NEET exams is foolproof and difficult to breach.

He said several moderators are asked to prepare question bank and they are not aware which will be part of the question paper.

Mehta said vehicles carrying NEET question papers have GPS and even small movement is recorded.

It was hearing a batch of petitions, including one filed by advocated Tanvi Dubey on behalf of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA).

The seven-member Radhakrishnan Committee was set up by the Ministry of Education in the wake of the NEET-UG paper leak to make recommendations on reforms in the examination process, improvement in data security protocols and the structure and functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA).

The government had also set up a high powered task force led by Infosys co-founder Nilekani for structural reforms in NEET exams.