UDF Moves Supreme Court, Seeks Statutory National Exam Authority to Replace NTA
New Delhi: Amid growing concerns over repeated paper leak allegations, technical glitches and transparency issues in national entrance examinations, the United Doctors Front (UDF) has moved the Supreme Court seeking major structural reforms in India’s examination system.
The petition, filed through Advocate-on-Record Ritu Reniwal along with Dr. Charu Mathur and Advocate Mahendra, demands replacement of the present National Testing Agency (NTA) framework with an independent statutory examination authority created through an Act of Parliament.
The plea, filed under Diary No. 30471/2026, raises serious questions over the functioning and accountability of the NTA, which currently operates as a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
According to the petition, examinations affecting crores of students every year — including NEET-UG, JEE, CUET and UGC-NET — cannot continue under what it termed an “NGO-like society model” lacking direct parliamentary oversight and constitutional accountability.
Dr. Lakshya Mittal said the future of millions of students cannot be left vulnerable to repeated controversies and administrative failures.
“Examinations deciding the careers of crores of students require a transparent, legally accountable and constitutionally backed system instead of a society-act registered autonomous framework,” Dr. Mittal stated.
The petition has sought directions from the apex court for creation of a fully independent statutory national testing authority through parliamentary enactment. It has proposed several safeguards including direct parliamentary oversight, strong anti-paper leak mechanisms, comprehensive CAG auditing, cybersecurity protection systems, statutory grievance redressal mechanisms and mandatory transparency provisions.
The UDF argued that repeated controversies surrounding competitive examinations have severely shaken the confidence of students and parents in the national examination process. It maintained that temporary administrative measures are insufficient and structural reforms are urgently required.
The petition further contended that institutional accountability for examinations impacting over two crore students annually must be backed by law rather than administrative arrangements.
Dr. Mittal said the country now needs a robust and constitutionally accountable examination authority whose primary responsibility remains protection of students’ interests and preservation of merit-based selection.
