Congress Says Parliamentary Panel Report Exposes ‘Grave Incompetence’ in NTA, Education Ministry

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday accused the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Union Ministry of Education of serious failures, alleging that a parliamentary panel’s latest report highlights “grave incompetence and malpractice” in the conduct and management of competitive examinations.

The 382nd report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, titled Reforms and Strengthening of the National Testing Agency (NTA), was chaired by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Wasnik and presented on October 9. It comes amid renewed scrutiny of the examination agency following the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 after question paper leaks.

Among its key recommendations, the committee called for shifting medical entrance examinations entirely to the computer-based test (CBT) mode, considering limits on the maximum age and number of attempts for NEET-UG, and using the NTA’s financial surplus to establish government-owned examination centres in every district.

The panel also recommended stringent quarantine measures for question-setters to reduce the risk of question paper leaks.

Reacting to the report, Ramesh alleged that the Ministry of Education had made a “blatantly false and audacious claim” before the committee that no paper leak had occurred in any NTA-conducted examination between the agency’s establishment in 2017 and 2025.

“There have been 9 paper leaks and irregularities in NTA conducted exams that we know of. What hope is there for a fair investigation or accountability when the Ministry even refuses to acknowledge what went wrong in the first place?” he asked.

The Congress leader also questioned the NTA’s institutional status, noting that it is registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, rather than being established as a statutory body through an Act of Parliament. He argued that this structure left the agency with limited accountability and parliamentary oversight.

Ramesh described the NTA as a “khokhla body” that outsourced key responsibilities to private contractors, raising concerns about its capacity to conduct examinations independently and securely.

He pointed to the agency’s sanctioned strength of just 39 positions, alleging that only 23 officers were currently in place, leaving 41 per cent of posts vacant. He said the shortfall persisted despite recommendations by the K. Radhakrishnan Committee to strengthen the agency’s staffing.

According to Ramesh, all 39 permanent positions were filled through deputation, with officers serving tenures of just two to three years. He argued that frequent turnover hindered the development of institutional expertise and long-term operational capacity.

The Congress leader also raised concerns about the lack of a nationwide blacklist of firms that had failed to deliver examination-related services, including question-paper setting, printing, logistics and administration.

“Firms that are blacklisted in one state routinely get government contracts in other states,” he alleged, calling for stronger safeguards against the repeated appointment of service providers with a record of failures.

Ramesh further criticised the NTA’s result-publication practices, arguing that the absence of publicly accessible NEET-UG results and test-centre-wise data weakened transparency and made it difficult to identify unusual patterns in candidate performance.

He also questioned the government’s handling of the agency’s leadership during a period marked by examination controversies and calls for reform.

Ramesh claimed that between the 2024 NEET paper leak and the latest controversy in 2026, the NTA’s Director General position had been held as an additional charge rather than by a full-time incumbent.

“At a time when the NTA was already tackling multiple paper leaks and was supposed to implement the reforms proposed by the K Radhakrishnan Committee, the Modi Government failed to even appoint a full-time officer to lead the agency,” he said.

The Congress leader also alleged that the agency had prioritised accumulating financial reserves over strengthening examination infrastructure and student services.

Citing a claimed revenue surplus of Rs 590 crore, Ramesh said the funds had been invested in fixed deposits to earn interest instead of being used to improve the NTA’s examination-related capabilities or provide assistance to students.

Taking aim at the government and former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Ramesh recalled that Pradhan had previously dismissed the parliamentary committee’s recommendations on NTA reforms, citing the presence of Opposition members on the panel.

“We can only hope that the Modi Government sheds its arrogance for the limited time it has remaining and takes this report seriously,” he said.