New Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has moved its confidential operations to new government premises in central Delhi, where 39 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel have been deployed to strengthen security around sensitive examination work, PTI reported.
The move is part of a broader restructuring of the examination agency following the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and renewed scrutiny of its systems. The NTA's new facility is located in the Government of India Press Building on Minto Road, with space spread across the fifth floor and parts of the fourth and sixth floors. The agency has been allotted up to 55,524.53 square feet there, according to details reported by The Indian Express from a government affidavit filed before the Supreme Court.
The confidential areas have been separately demarcated, with CISF personnel assigned to regulate access and conduct screening at entry and exit points. The security arrangements include X-ray baggage screening and Door Frame Metal Detectors (DFMDs).
The heightened physical security follows findings in the CBI's chargesheet into the NEET-UG paper leak. According to the chargesheet, three NTA subject experts were identified as primary sources of the leaked questions. The CBI found that there was no checking or frisking of experts when they entered or left the confidential section of the agency's earlier office. It also noted the absence of a dedicated live-feed CCTV monitoring control room there.
The CBI alleged that one of the experts used plain sheets provided for translation-related rough work to make small chits containing questions, while other experts memorised or noted down questions outside the confidential section. The chargesheet was filed before a Delhi fast-track court and named 13 accused, according to The Indian Express.
The latest security measures follow reforms initiated after the NEET-UG 2024 controversy. The Union Ministry of Education constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts headed by former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan in June 2024. Its report, submitted in October that year, contained 101 recommendations covering examination processes, data security and the structure and functioning of the NTA. The ministry's report says the committee was tasked with making examinations more transparent, secure and resistant to tampering.
The committee's recommendations included stronger security protocols across the examination cycle, improved technology and data-security systems, specialised staffing and greater monitoring of examination operations. The Ministry of Education said it subsequently constituted a High-Powered Steering Committee headed by Radhakrishnan to oversee implementation.
The NTA is now undergoing a wider organisational restructuring. The government has told the Supreme Court that the agency is moving towards functional verticals rather than exam-specific units, while officials from several government services have been brought in as part of efforts to strengthen its institutional capacity. The Union Government’s affidavit also lists new standard operating procedures covering question-paper setting, translation, printing, packing, transportation, examination-day protocols and result processing.
The Supreme Court had questioned the NTA's response to the 2026 leak during a May hearing. A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe remarked that it was "sad" that the agency had not learnt its lessons from the earlier controversy.
Alongside the physical-security measures, the NTA is working on tighter cybersecurity controls. PTI reported that the agency is preparing stricter access controls, encryption standards, immutable logging and tamper-evident storage for examination-critical systems. Security-readiness reviews are also planned before examination cycles, covering biometric authentication, face matching, CCTV and live-monitoring infrastructure.
The NTA has also designated a chief information security officer (CISO), while recruitment for a general manager and CISO post is under way. PTI reported that independent third-party cybersecurity audits by CERT-In and C-DAC-empanelled agencies are continuing.
The separate high-powered task force headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is examining further structural reforms to the examination system. The Union Government told the Supreme Court on September 18 that the panel had completed extensive consultations and was likely to submit its first interim report by the end of September.
The NTA, established as an autonomous testing organisation under the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, currently lists its address as the new Government of India Press Building on Minto Road.