New Delhi, Sep 28: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has shifted its confidential and sensitive operations to a new office in Delhi, where the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will provide security to strengthen access controls and prevent breaches, officials said.
The move follows the controversy surrounding the NEET-UG paper leak and allegations of administrative lapses in the conduct of the medical entrance examination. The episode triggered protests by students across the country and intensified scrutiny of the NTA’s examination and security procedures.
The NTA, established in 2017 under the Ministry of Education to conduct fair, transparent and standardised examinations, previously operated from its office in Okhla.
A government facility covering more than 55,000 square feet has now been allotted to the agency at the Government of India Press Building on Minto Road. The NTA has been assigned space on the fifth floor and portions of the fourth and sixth floors. Officials said confidential operations were shifted to the new premises over the past month.
The decision to strengthen physical security follows findings cited in a CBI chargesheet into the NEET-UG paper leak. According to the investigation, three subject experts identified as primary sources of the leaked paper were not subjected to adequate checking or frisking while entering or leaving the confidential section. This allegedly enabled them to carry away handwritten material based on the question papers.
The CBI also pointed to the absence of a dedicated control room for live CCTV monitoring at the NTA’s Delhi office, which meant the activities of the accused experts were not detected at the time.
At the new facility, specific sections have been designated as confidential areas, with tighter monitoring of personnel movement and operations. The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved CISF security for the premises.
Around 39 CISF personnel have been deployed to handle security duties, regulate access and carry out screening at entry and exit points. Security measures include frisking, X-ray baggage screening systems and Door Frame Metal Detectors.
Officials said CISF personnel would be positioned at appropriate entry and exit locations to monitor and control access to restricted sections.
The latest measures build on recommendations made by an earlier high-level panel headed by former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan after a previous examination paper leak. The committee had proposed stronger safeguards across critical stages of the examination process, including question-paper management, candidate registration, fee collection, admit cards, computer-based testing, OMR processing, result preparation and normalisation.
Following the subsequent paper leak, the Supreme Court criticised the NTA’s handling of examination security and observed that the agency had failed to learn from earlier shortcomings.
The agency is now working on tighter technical safeguards, including restricted access, stronger encryption, tamper-evident storage and immutable logging for systems handling examination-related information.
Security readiness checks are also being planned before every examination cycle in coordination with the NTA’s technology and test-security teams. These reviews will cover examination-day systems such as biometric authentication, facial recognition, CCTV networks and live monitoring arrangements.
The NTA is further developing an examination-specific cyber-incident response mechanism, including enhanced Security Operations Centre monitoring and rapid-response capabilities during examination days.
To reinforce its information-security framework, the agency has also initiated the appointment of a dedicated Chief Information Security Officer. The post of General Manager and CISO has been advertised, with the selection process currently at an advanced stage.
Officials said independent cybersecurity audits by agencies empanelled by CERT-In and C-DAC are also continuing as part of efforts to strengthen the security of examination systems.