The Supreme Court on Friday said problems surrounding the conduct of NEET exams will continue unless clear accountability is fixed on individuals responsible for the process.

Hearing petitions related to the NEET UG 2026 paper leak, the Court asked the Ministry of Human Resource Development to place before it a detailed plan to reform the National Testing Agency (NTA).

A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe observed that when irregularities take place in major examinations, it is often unclear who is directly responsible for the lapse.

“The real problem won’t stop till actual accountability arises. Unless specific duty holders are identified, responsibility remains diffused,” the Court said.

The remarks came days after the NEET UG 2026 examination was cancelled following allegations of a paper leak. The Court described the incident as deeply disturbing and said students and their families should not have to suffer because of repeated failures in the examination system.

“It is very traumatic if this is happening. We cannot disappoint our students. It is not merely the student, it’s the family too. Years of hard work and emotions are attached to these exams,” the Bench observed.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the Court that the government was taking the matter seriously and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was personally monitoring the situation.

The Court also criticised the culture of “ad-hocism” in institutions and stressed that strong systems, not individuals alone, are needed to ensure fairness and efficiency.

It then directed the Ministry of Human Resource Development to file an affidavit explaining the steps proposed to improve the examination process and strengthen the NTA with domain experts and better institutional mechanisms.

The Court said its aim was to ensure that incidents like the NEET controversies of 2024 and 2026 do not happen again.

The petitions before the Court were filed after the Centre and the NTA cancelled NEET UG 2026, which had been conducted on May 3. A CBI probe has already been ordered into the alleged paper leak.

Several petitioners have sought major reforms in the examination system, including conducting NEET in a computer-based format, digital locking of question papers and restructuring of the NTA itself.

During the hearing, the Court also reviewed the functioning of the High-Powered Committee formed after similar allegations during NEET 2024. The Bench questioned whether there were gaps in the committee’s recommendations or in their implementation, given that another leak had surfaced despite earlier reforms.

Committee chairman K Radhakrishnan informed the Court that around 60 recommendations had been made and most had already been implemented. However, the Court emphasised that more effective reforms and stronger monitoring mechanisms were still required.

The matter will now be heard again in July.