On 19th June 2024 in response to reports that the exam’s integrity may have been compromised, the Union Ministry of Education ordered the cancellation of the UGC-NET and turned the case over to the CBI for an investigation. The National Testing Agency administers the National Eligibility Test for the University Grants Commission (NTA).

The UGC-NET exam was cancelled, and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accepted full responsibility for it. He also announced the creation of a high-level committee to improve the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) operations, examination procedures, openness, and data security policies.

“The high-level committee to review and improve the functioning of NTA would be notified soon,” according to the minister. “Let us have faith in our systems and no irregularities or malpractices will be tolerated by the government.”

Pradhan announced the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam, which was intended to select junior research fellows, assistant professors, and PhD scholars. He claimed that the exam paper had been leaked on Darknet and that the question paper that was shared on Telegram, a social media platform, matched the original question paper.

“We decided to cancel the examination soon after it was clear that the UGC-NET question paper on the DarkNet matches the original question paper,” he stated, reiterating the government’s commitment to safeguarding students’ rights and maintaining openness in the educational system.

In response to claims of anomalies in the NEET-UG exam and calls for a new medical entrance exam by the opposition, Pradhan stated that thousands of students who passed the exam legitimately shouldn’t be impacted by a few bad apples. He declared he was going to form a high-level committee to look into and resolve the problems inside the NTA.

The Education Minister stated, “The government is going to form a high-level committee which will be investigating several issues pertaining to the NTA.” “One isolated incident (the Bihar paper leak) should not affect lakhs of students who took the exam sincerely,” the minister said. It is anticipated that the high-level group will provide recommendations on how to further enhance NTA’s operations, structure, transparency, and data security protocols.

“We are committed to holding zero-error exams, and a high-level committee is being formed to improve NTA functioning,” he said.

He gave his word that the government will not waver in its commitment to upholding students’ rights to transparency. “I want to reassure everyone that student concerns are a top priority for the government. Transparency is something we won’t compromise on,” Pradhan emphasized.