Breach in chain of command: Education Minister owns up to NEET paper leak lapse

Speaking at a press conference on May 15, the Education Minister acknowledged a "breach in the chain of command" and said the government was taking responsibility for the NEET paper leak controversy.

In Short

• NEET re-exam scheduled for June 21, 2026 due to paper leak
• Government accepts responsibility for security breach despite reforms
• CBI to investigate alleged insider involvement in NTA

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in a press conference held today, said the NEET re-examination will now be held on June 21 after the government concluded that the original paper had been leaked under the cover of so-called “guess papers”.

Pradhan in his address said, “despite following the recommendations of the Radhakrishnan committee, there was a breach in command chain. We accept it and take responsibility to improve it.” The Union Minister was referring to the high-level committee led by former ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan and constituted after the 2024 NEET paper leak.

The committee had reportedly made 95 comprehensive recommendations for reforms in the exam process, but those were not followed as per instructions.

According to him, the exam was conducted on May 3, but by May 7, the NTA had received complaints that several questions circulating in guess papers matched the actual exam. The Higher Education Department then launched an enquiry and involved central agencies, which worked with state authorities before confirming by May 12 that the real question paper had indeed been compromised.

During the press conference, he was asked about the alleged involvement of insiders in the National Testing Agency (NTA), and he responded by saying, “CBI will investigate the matter thoroughly. CBI is a trustworthy agency, and it will probe matter smoothly.”

Pradhan said the government decided to cancel the exam because it did not want honest students to suffer because of what he described as an organised network of fraudsters and the “education mafia”. He also pointed out that several reforms recommended by the Radhakrishnan Committee after last year’s controversy had already been implemented for NEET 2025 and 2026, but despite those safeguards, the leak still took place.

KEY UPDATES ON THE RE-EXAM

Pradhan announced key updates for students ahead of the re-examination process.

1. The re-exam is to be held on June 21, 2026.

2. Candidates will be allowed to choose exam cities, a step that is aimed at reducing travel burden and making the process smoother for lakhs of students who will be reappearing after the cancellation.

2. The minister also confirmed that new NEET UG re-exam admit cards will be released by June 14, 2026 on the official NTA website.

3. Students will be able to download their hall tickets using their existing application credentials.

4. Earlier, officials had clarified that students would not need to register again for the exam.

5. At the press meeting, Pradhan said that there is a need to move towards a Computer-Based Test (CBT) system from next year. He said the NEET examination should be shifted to an online mode, indicating a transition from the current paper-based format to a fully computer-based examination system.

- Ends