The CISF has deployed 39 personnel at the NTA’s new Delhi office to strengthen access control and security of confidential examination operations.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has been deployed at the National Testing Agency’s new office to strengthen security and regulate access to confidential areas following the NEET-UG paper leak and administrative lapses, officials said.
The medical entrance examination paper leak earlier this year triggered nationwide student protests and led to the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
A day after Pradhan’s resignation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a high-powered task force headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani to recommend reforms to prevent examination paper leaks. The panel has yet to submit its report.
According to a CBI chargesheet identifying three subject experts as the primary sources of the leak, experts were not checked or frisked while entering or leaving the NTA’s confidential section. This allowed them to take notes from question papers on small chits made from sheets supplied for rough work and translation.
The CBI also noted that the alleged activities went unnoticed because the NTA office lacked a dedicated control room to monitor live CCTV feeds.
Established in 2017 under the education ministry to conduct fair, transparent and standardised examinations, the NTA had been operating from Okhla.
A senior officer said more than 55,000 sq. ft of office space had been allotted to the agency in the Government of India Press Building on Minto Road, covering the fifth floor and parts of the fourth and sixth floors.
“Confidential and sensitive operations have been shifted in the last one month to the newly allotted building,” the officer said.
“Confidential areas have been demarcated in the building where the movement and operations will be strictly monitored to ensure that a foolproof system is in place. The Home Ministry has approved Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) security cover for the premises,” the official said.
The official said 39 CISF personnel had been deployed to handle security, access control and screening, including frisking, baggage checks using X-ray machines and screening through door-frame metal detectors.
Personnel are being stationed at entry and exit points to monitor and regulate access to confidential areas.
A similar paper leak in 2024 led to the formation of a high-level committee headed by former ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan.
The panel recommended stronger security controls for critical examination systems, including question paper preparation, candidate registration, fee payments, admit cards, computer-based testing, OMR processing, normalisation and results.
However, following the 2026 paper leak, the Supreme Court reprimanded the NTA, saying “it has not learnt its lessons”.
The agency is putting in place strict access controls, encryption standards, logs that cannot be altered and storage systems that reveal any tampering across critical examination operations.
It is also working on security readiness reviews of all examination-supporting systems before each examination cycle, in coordination with its technology team.
Other measures include coordinating with the test-security team on examination-day systems such as biometric authentication, face matching, CCTV coverage and live monitoring.
The NTA is strengthening its readiness to respond to cyber incidents on examination days through enhanced security operations centre monitoring and rapid-response arrangements.
The agency has earmarked a dedicated chief information security officer’s role. The position of general manager and CISO has been advertised, and the selection process is at an advanced stage.
Independent cybersecurity audits by agencies empanelled with CERT-In and C-DAC continue to be conducted, the official said.
