NEET-PG exam postponed amid paper leaks row; fresh date to be announced soon

NEW DELHI: The

NEET-PG

examination has been postponed and a fresh date will be announced at the earliest, the health ministry said on Saturday. The exam was scheduled to be held on June 23.
"Taking into consideration the recent incidents of allegations regarding the integrity of certain competitive examinations, the ministry of health has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of processes of the NEET-PG Entrance Examination, conducted by the National Board of Examination (

NTA

) for medical students," read the statement by the ministry.

The fresh date of this examination will be notified at the earliest, it said.

"Ministry of Health sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to the students. This decision has been taken in the best interests of the students and to maintain the sanctity of the examination process," the ministry said.

NTA director general replaced

The announcement came moments after the Centre replaced the National Testing Agency's director general amid the NEET-NET

paper leaks

row.
The Centre removed NTA director general Subodh Kumar Singh from his post and put him on "compulsory wait" in DoPT amid recent irregularities in exams including NEET and UCG-NET.

Meanwhile, Pradeep Singh Kharola has been given additional charge of the post of Director General, National Testing Agency (NTA) by the ministry.

High-level exams reform panel set up

Earlier in the day, the ministry of education constituted a high-level committee of experts to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations amid the NEET and UGC-NET row. The 7-member committee will be led by former Isro chief Dr K Radhakrishnan. The committee also includes Dr Randeep Guleria, Prof B J Rao, Prof. Ramamurthy K, Pankaj Bansal, Aditya Mittal, Govind Jaiswal.
The committee will submit its report to the ministry within 2 months.
The high-level panel will analyse the end-to-end examination process and also suggest measures to improve the efficiency of the system, according to the statement from the ministry of education.
(With inputs from agencies)