After NEET Paper Leak, CISF To Guard NTA Office, Tight Checks Planned In Confidential Areas

The National Testing Agency (NTA) is putting its most sensitive examination operations under tighter security following the controversy over the NEET-UG paper leak, which exposed major gaps in the handling of confidential material.

The agency has shifted its confidential and sensitive work from its earlier Okhla office to a new 55,000-square-foot facility in the Government of India Press Building on Minto Road in New Delhi. The NTA occupies the fifth floor and parts of the fourth and sixth floors.

The Union Home Ministry has approved CISF security cover for the premises, with 39 personnel deployed to regulate access and strengthen physical security. They will monitor entry and exit points and oversee frisking, X-ray baggage screening and Door Frame Metal Detectors.

The move follows findings in the CBI chargesheet into the NEET-UG paper leak, which identified three subject experts as primary sources of the leaked paper. Investigators found that experts entering or leaving the confidential section were not checked or frisked, allowing them to allegedly take handwritten material from question papers on small chits.

The CBI also pointed to the absence of a dedicated control room for live CCTV monitoring at the NTA office, allowing the activities of the accused experts to go unnoticed.

At the new facility, confidential areas have been clearly demarcated, with movement and operations to be strictly monitored. The NTA is also introducing stronger digital safeguards, including encryption, immutable logging and tamper-evident storage for examination-critical systems.

The agency plans security reviews before every examination cycle, covering candidate registration, biometric authentication, face matching, CCTV and live monitoring systems. It is also strengthening cyber-incident response on examination days.

The NTA is appointing a dedicated Chief Information Security Officer, while independent cybersecurity audits by CERT-In and C-DAC-empanelled agencies continue.

The overhaul comes after the Supreme Court criticised the NTA over the 2026 leak, saying it had "not learnt its lessons". A task force headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is also working on reforms to make examinations more secure.