The Ministry of Education on Saturday said it has formed a high-level committee of experts, headed by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan, to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through National Testing Agency (NTA).

The Centre’s decision to constitute the seven-member committee comes amid the ongoing crisis around paper leak allegations.

The NTA is facing criticism over alleged irregularities in this year’s National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) exams and NET exam. This resulted in several protests across the country with protestors and political parties demanding to disband the NTA.

Soon after the announcement of the formation of the panel, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan asserted that transparent, tamper-free, and zero-error examinations are a commitment.

“Transparent, tamper-free and zero-error examinations is a commitment,” Pradhan said in a post on ‘X’.

“Setting up of the high-level committee of experts is the first of a series of steps to improve efficiency of the examination process, put an end to all possible malpractices, strengthen data security protocols and overhaul and reform the NTA. Student interests and their bright future will always be our govt’s top priority”, he added.

The Ministry of Education said Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, who is the Chairman of the seven-member committee, is Former Chairman, ISRO and Chairman BoG, IIT Kanpur.

The seven-member committee, which also includes Dr. Randeep Guleria, Former Director, AIIMS Delhi, will make recommendations on reform in the mechanism of examination process, improvement in data security protocols and structure and functioning of NTA, the Department of Higher Education, the Ministry said.

The committee will submit its report to the Ministry within two months, it said.

Other members of the panel are Prof. B J Rao, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Hyderabad; Prof. Ramamurthy K, Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras; Pankaj Bansal, Co-Founder, People Strong and Board Member- Karmayogi Bharat; Prof. Aditya Mittal, Dean Student Affairs, IIT Delhi; Govind Jaiswal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India (Member Secretary).

“In order to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through National Testing Agency (NTA), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts to make recommendations on reform in mechanism of examination process, improvement in Data Security protocols and structure and functioning of National Testing Agency,” the Ministry of Education said in a statement.

The Ministry further said the committee will look into reforming the mechanism of the examination process by analysing the end-to-end examination process and suggesting measures to improve the efficiency of the system and to forestall any possible breach.

The panel will also conduct a thorough review of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)/Protocols of the NTA, and suggest measures to strengthen these procedures/protocols along with monitoring mechanisms to ensure compliance at every level.

The committee will also suggest measures to improve data security protocols by evaluating the existing data security processes and protocols of NTA and recommend measures for its improvement.

They will also examine existing security protocols related to the paper-setting and other processes for different examinations and make recommendations to enhance the robustness of the system, the Ministry of Education said.

They will also look into the structure and functioning of the National Testing Agency by making recommendations on the organizational structure and functioning of the agency (NTA) for implementation of recommendations given under points (i) and (ii) and clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of functionaries at every level.

The committee will also assess the current Grievance Redressal Mechanism of the NTA, identify areas of improvement and make recommendations for enhancing its efficiency.

“The Committee shall submit its report to the Ministry within two months from the date of issue of this order. The Committee can co-opt any Subject Matter Expert to assist them,” the Ministry added.