AS THE National Testing Agency (NTA) prepares to reconduct NEET 2026 on Sunday, over a month after the cancellation of the May 12 exam following allegations of paper leaks, the conduct of competitive exams in the country has become an issue of public debate.
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Be it the protests of the Cockroach Janata Party or the student outreach campaign launched by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi from Kota — the hub of coaching institutes — the exam conducting agency has been facing criticisms from different sections.
The Indian Express takes a look at the conduct of major competitive exams since 2018 – the year the NTA was constituted – to compare the glitches, leaks and efficiency of different agencies in conducting the tests.
Panel Report
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, in its report submitted to Parliament last year (371st Report, 2025), had flagged what it saw as the NTA’s problems. “It has been brought to the notice of the Committee that in the year 2024 alone, of the 14 competitive examinations conducted by the NTA, at least five faced major issues and as a result, three examinations viz. UGC-NET, CSIR-NET and NEET-PG had to be postponed, one examination viz. NEET-UG saw instances of paper leaks, and one examination i.e CUET (UG/PG) saw its results postponed,” it noted.
“In JEE Main 2025 held in January 2025, at least 12 questions had to be withdrawn due to errors noted in the final answer key of the engineering entrance exam. The Committee observed that such instances do not inspire confidence of the examinees in the system. The Committee therefore recommends that NTA needs to quickly get their act together so that such instances… do not occur in future,” the panel said.
Among the popular exams conducted by NTA are NEET for admission to medical colleges; JEE (Main) for admission to the NITs and IIITs, among other institutes; UGC-NET; CSIR-NET and CUET.
Some popular exams that are outside the purview of the NTA are the civil services and NDA exams, both conducted by UPSC, JEE (Advanced) for admissions primarily to the IITs conducted by one among the top seven IITs each year on a rotational basis, and CAT for admissions primarily to the IIMs, conducted by individual IIMs on a rotational basis.
NTA’s record
In 2019 and 2020, the NTA conducted NEET, JEE (Main) and UGC NET with no complaints.
In 2021, an FIR was registered in Jaipur after allegations of NEET paper leak circulated on social media. Arrests were made and even cash seized from an accused. The NTA denied the allegations of a paper leak and no nationwide re-exam was ordered.
The same year, JEE (Main) came under the scanner. An FIR was registered against Affinity Education Pvt Ltd for remotely hacking exam computers from a Sonipat centre, and solving papers for candidates who paid Rs 12-15 lakh each. The CBI raided 20 locations during the investigation.
For UGC-NET 2021, there were disputed allegations on social media; the NTA denied the claims and no proof of a leak was found.
In NEET 2022, there were isolated allegations of malpractices at individual centres but no confirmed leak.
In UGC NET 2022, students’ groups SFI and AISA alleged that the history paper had been leaked. The NTA denied the charge, saying the circulating paper’s format did not match that of the actual exam.
The debut year of CUET (UG) in 2022 was marked by logistical chaos and technical glitches, but there was no confirmed paper leak. The logistical issues of CUET continued the next year, but there were no major paper leak claims.
NEET-UG 2024 saw a big controversy – the question paper was photographed from the NTA’s trunk in a strong room in Hazaribagh and was sold 24 hours before the exam for Rs 30 lakh and above. The leak came to light when 67 candidates scored a perfect 720. The CBI filed five chargesheets against 45 accused. The Supreme Court refused to order a full retest; a limited retest was held for 1,563 candidates, out of whom 813 appeared.
UGC NET 2024 was cancelled after allegations that the questions had appeared on the dark web. There were allegations against CUET PG 2024 too. In 2025, CSIR-UGC NET saw question paper leak allegations in Haryana.
In 2026, NEET (UG) was cancelled because of paper leak allegations and the retest was scheduled for June 21.
The Telegram app has been temporarily banned, with the government saying it was being used to sell fake question papers before the NEET retest.
Non-NTA exams
The civil services exams for recruitment of officers to the IAS, IPS, IFS and the allied services held by the UPSC have been clean. In a reply in the Rajya Sabha on whether any question paper leaks had been reported between 2021 and 2026, the government answered in the negative. A Gujarati newspaper, however, did allege a leak in the UPSC prelims 2025, but this was denied by the agency and no FIR was registered.
The JEE (Advanced) exam for admission to the IITs has also been clean over the period, with no leaks being reported. So has been CAT for admission to the IIMs.
However, long before the period under review, there was one infamous CAT leak.
In 2003, one Ranjeet Don from Bihar was arrested with his associates for leaking the November 2003 CAT paper; the exam for admission to IIMs had to be held again months later.
Some of the non-NTA exams which have seen serious charges of paper leaks over these years are the BPSC common competitive examination 2022, UP police constables recruitment Exam 2024, RPSC second-grade teacher exam 2022 and the UP teacher eligibility exam paper leak of 2021.
Police and security personnel make arrangements ahead of the NEET-UG re-examination, at an examination. (PTI Photo) 
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