‘NEET exam system foolproof, difficult to breach’: Centre to SC after paper leak

Updated on: Aug 19, 2026, 12:28:52 IST

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The government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the current system in place for conducting the NEET-UG exam was “fool proof”, even as it said there were human interventions in the process.

Appearing for the government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta explained to the court in detail how the question paper is selected.

Taking a Physics paper requiring 100 questions as an example, Mehta explained the process:

• Several set of moderators first create a bank of 500 questions.
• From this lot, other moderators select 100 questions each and prepare 4 different question papers.
• The Director General of NTA then selects two out of those four papers.
• The paper then go into a sealed box to two separate printers under CCTV and CISF security.
• The person in-charge of the box has a digital key. The box can only be opened after the printing press owner contacts the DG NTA and receives the code.
• Once the box is opened, no outsider is allowed inside the printing press, and the entire process is video-recorded.

Mehta further said that even the printing press person is unaware of which exam centre the papers will go to. “The QP along with OMR is sealed in a sealed envelope, to open the envelope I have to break the seal,” Mehta was quoted as saying by Bar and Bench.

The government's submissions to Supreme Court come months after the NEET-UG paper conducted on May 3 was cancelled by the National Testing Agency (NTA) due to a leak. A re-exam was ordered for June 21, triggering widespread outrage and panic among aspirants.

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