NEET reforms row: NTA admits incomplete RTI reply, cites Supreme Court affidavit

(This article is a follow-up to an RTI response obtained by India Today, which revealed that NTA did not maintain a consolidated record of the reforms implemented after the NEET controversy. Read the original report here.)

Hours after India Today reported that the National Testing Agency (NTA) did not have a consolidated record showing the implementation status of all 101 reforms recommended by the K Radhakrishnan Committee, the agency issued a fresh clarification.

In an email sent at 8:50 pm on June 4, NTA's First Appellate Authority (FAA) acknowledged that the earlier RTI response had not presented the complete picture. The agency also shared two additional documents, including a detailed affidavit filed before the Supreme Court.

The development comes after India Today reported that while government officials and NTA representatives have repeatedly claimed that 70 to 75 per cent of the reforms have already been implemented, the RTI response stated that no finalised and consolidated point-wise status report had been prepared.

NTA SAYS INFORMATION WAS INCOMPLETE

In its fresh communication, the FAA said, "It has been observed that the CPIO inadvertently provided incomplete information."

The agency explained that the High-Level Committee of Experts (HLCE) led by former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan had submitted 101 recommendations under its report, Reformation of National Common Entrance Testing in India.

According to NTA, these recommendations cover a wide range of issues, including restructuring the agency, strengthening examination security, improving candidate authentication, adopting new technologies, grievance redressal, mental health support, regulation of coaching centres and harmonisation of undergraduate entrance examinations.

The agency added that the 101 recommendations had been grouped into 46 major recommendations for implementation purposes.

WHO IS MONITORING THE REFORMS?

NTA also pointed to a monitoring mechanism that was not mentioned in its original RTI response.

The agency said the Ministry of Education constituted a High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC) under K Radhakrishnan on November 14, 2024, to oversee implementation of the recommendations.

According to NTA, the committee has met several times to review progress and continues to monitor implementation. The most recent meeting was held on April 17, 2026.

WHAT THE AFFIDAVIT REVEALS

The affidavit filed before the Supreme Court provides significantly more detail about reforms that have either been implemented or are under implementation.

According to the affidavit, NTA has introduced Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, face authentication, AI-based CCTV monitoring, multi-layer frisking, mobile signal jammers and stronger question paper security protocols.

The document also states that 621 District Level Coordination Committees were operationalised for NEET UG 2026. Nearly 1.85 lakh CCTV cameras were deployed across 5,432 examination centres, while AI tools were used to monitor footage for suspicious activity.

NTA further claimed that a five-tier oversight mechanism has been established to monitor examination centres across the country.

THE KEY QUESTION STILL REMAINS

Despite the additional information, the central issue raised through the RTI remains unresolved.

The original query sought a recommendation-wise implementation status of all 101 reforms. While NTA has now provided a broader overview of measures taken and shared the Supreme Court affidavit, neither document provides a complete tracker showing which recommendations have been fully implemented, partially implemented or are still pending.

As a result, there is still no publicly available recommendation-by-recommendation record that independently verifies the implementation status of each reform suggested after the NEET controversy.