After NEET paper leak scandal, govt may cap attempts and impose age limit on aspirants: Report

Amidst growing concerns over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination process, triggered by the recent paper leak, the Government of India (GOI) on Thursday (May 21) told a parliamentary panel that it would recommend a cap on the number of attempts for NEET-UG aspirants. GOI might also introduce an upper age limit, reports Hindustan Times, citing sources. This comes as Director General (DG) of the National Testing Agency (NTA), Abhishek Singh, appeared before a Parliamentary committee to provide a detailed briefing on the NEET-UG paper leak and the steps being taken to reform the examination process.

At the committee hearing, NTA also insisted that it was not a case of “paper leak”. Notably, earlier this month (on May 15), Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, during a high-stakes press conference, admitted that a leak had happened. "Questions have gone out under the guise of guess papers," he said.

Three long-term reforms expected

As per reports, the NTA Director General told the parliamentary standing committee headed by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh that the agency would implement three "long-term measures" in consultation with the Union Health Ministry following the recommendations of an expert committee chaired by former Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Radhakrishnan. These are: transition from pen-and-paper examinations to computer-based testing as announced earlier; the introduction of multi-session and multi-stage testing; and capping of the number of attempts, implementing age limits.

Currently, the NTA administers NEET-UG in a single shift, using a pen-and-paper format. Candidates must be at least 17 years old to appear for the exam; there is no upper age limit and no restriction on the number of attempts.

NTA, as per the HT report, a

Why was NEET-UG 2026 cancelled?

NEET UG 2026 was cancelled on May 12 following allegations of a coordinated paper leak. The exam, conducted on May 3 across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad, saw participation from over 22 lakh candidates. A reexamination is scheduled for June 21. To prevent such irregularities, the exam will be conducted in computer-based test (CBT) mode from next year.