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Pradhan reviews NEET re-exam preparations
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan reviewed NEET-UG 2026 re-exam plans, ensuring strict security and integrity after a question leak incident.
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New Delhi: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday reviewed preparations for the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21 and directed officials to ensure that the test is conducted in a “secure, seamless and foolproof manner” under strict security protocols, officials aware of the matter said.
Chairing a high-level review meeting, Pradhan stressed that all gaps identified in the earlier examination process “must be comprehensively addressed and eliminated” to ensure complete integrity and transparency, according to a Union education ministry statement.
“The minister emphasised that the re-NEET examination must be conducted in a secure, seamless and foolproof manner under stringent security protocols. Directions were also issued to hold coordination meetings with district magistrates and superintendents of police across states to ensure robust monitoring and effective implementation,” the ministry said.
Pradhan also directed officials to ensure that vigilance and security at examination centres “remain uncompromised” and asked them to make adequate arrangements for students, including transportation, drinking water and other essential facilities.
The meeting was attended by secretary (higher education) Vineet Joshi, secretary (school education) Sanjay Kumar, NTA director general Abhishek Singh and CBSE chairperson Rahul Singh, among other senior officials.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled NEET-UG 2026 on May 12 after at least 120 questions in a “guess paper” overlapped with the May 3 examination, affecting more than 2.2 million students.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the alleged leak, has so far arrested 10 people, including professor Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, founder of a Latur-based coaching centre; retired Pune-based chemistry lecturer PV Kulkarni; and Pune biology teacher Manisha Gurunath Mandhare. Kulkarni and Mandhare were part of NTA’s expert panel for NEET-UG 2026.
A Delhi court on May 14 recorded the CBI’s submission that the leak traced back to an “NTA source”.
An NTA official, requesting anonymity, said the investigative agency had been given a “free hand” to act against all those involved. “We have given the agency a free hand and asked it to arrest everyone involved, irrespective of how senior or junior they may be. Our immediate focus is preparations for the June 21 re-examination,” the official told HT.
Asked about changes in the examination process, another official said the details could not be disclosed. “These are confidential details. We do not want exam mafia to know any information they can misuse. Paper leak is organised crime and we have to be really careful,” the official said.
The Centre on May 16 appointed two joint secretaries and two joint directors to strengthen the NTA leadership.
Pradhan had earlier announced that the medical entrance exam would be computer-based from next year onwards in view of irregularities linked to it.
EOM
