New Delhi, May 18: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports will review the progress made in the investigation into NEET-UG 2026 Paper Leak on May 21, apart from discussing NTA reforms, a Rajya Sabha circular said on Monday.
The crucial meeting, scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at Committee Room-3 of Parliament Annexe Extension Building, is likely to be stormy due to the thorny questions being raised by Opposition members about the poor progress on the implementation of K. Radhakrishnan Report on NTA reforms.
So far 10 accused have been arrested by the CBI in the current paper leak case from Delhi, Jaipur, Gurugram, Nasik, Pune, Latur and Ahliyanagar.
The 29-member Committee, headed by Rajya Sabha’s Congress member Digvijaya Singh, is likely to question NTA chief Pradeep Kumar Joshi and Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi on the now-cancelled NEET-UG 2026 Paper, the arrangements on re-exam scheduled on June 21 and fresh measures to prevent a repeat of the leak in future.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has announced a major reform of conducting a computer-based NEET-UG from the next year.
Meanwhile, Congress MP and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday gave a notice for initiating privilege proceedings against Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for “derogatory references” to parliamentary committees while speaking about the NEET-UG 2026 fiasco and steps to prevent paper leaks.
“I have given notice of question of privilege under Rule 187 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States against the Union Minister of Education for having lowered the dignity of Parliament and Parliamentary Committees,” said Ramesh on social media.
He has made these “outrageous” remarks while presiding over the rot in the Education Ministry that is destroying the future of lakhs of youth across the country, said Ramesh in his letter addressed to Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan.
Last week, Pradhan, while discussing issues related to reforms in the National Testing Agency (NTA), had allegedly made some remarks about Opposition members Parliament and Parliamentary Committees and the way they things are written in reports in a certain manner.
Ramesh wrote in his letter, dated May 18, that the conduct of the Minister of Education constitutes a grave breach of privilege and contempt of the House.
“In fact, it is a perfect case of such breach of privilege and contempt and a fit case for action by you since the Standing Committee on Education is one of the eight standing committees of the Rajya Sabha,” said Ramesh.
In a related development, a fresh petition was filed before the Supreme Court to seek immediate transition of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) to a Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode
The petition has been filed before the Supreme Court by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh, social activist Anubhav Garg, Dr Dhruv Chauhan, National Spokesperson of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), and political leader Harisharan Devgan through advocate Satyam Singh Rajput, advocate-on-Record Neema, along with a legal team comprising Muskan Singh and Adarsh Singh.–(IANS)
