'It happened before the paper left NTA': IIT Madras director V Kamakoti's big claim on NEET paper leak

The Centre has already enacted a stringent anti-paper leak bill, prescribing steep penalties and strict punishment for those involved in examination malpractices. Yet, after the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak triggered nationwide outrage, a key question continues to linger: Why has the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) largely remained free from such breaches?

Offering an answer, IIT Madras Director V. Kamakoti, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's six-member Exam Reform Task Force, said the safeguards used in JEE could help plug long-standing weaknesses in other national entrance examinations.

Speaking to NDTV, Kamakoti stressed that the NEET 2026 paper leak did not occur during printing, packing, transport or distribution. Instead, he said, the breach happened much earlier in the examination process.

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Why NEET remained vulnerable

According to Kamakoti, this year's leak occurred because the lessons from the 2024 controversy were not carried forward and the recommendations of the Ranganathan Committee were not fully implemented.

He said the committee had made more than 250 strong recommendations. While some of them were adopted, critical gaps remained. He warned that unless safeguards are enforced across the entire examination chain—from question paper setting to final delivery—national exams will continue to face security risks.

'Root of Trust' was compromised, not the transport chain

"To be frank, in NEET 2026, the NTA did follow many of those recommendations… That's why… after the paper left the NTA premises, it went for printing, it went to boxes, it was put in trunks, it was distributed, finally it reached the hands of the candidate on the day of the examination on the 20th," he said.

Referring to the CBI's findings, Kamakoti added: "It happened before the paper left NTA," pointing to a failure at the "root of trust"—the question paper setters and the human chain around them.

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How JEE has stayed secure

Recalling his own JEE experience in 1985, when around 5,000 candidates appeared for the exam, Kamakoti contrasted it with the present-day scale of nearly 15 lakh aspirants. Despite this massive increase, he said, JEE has managed to avoid paper leaks by combining technology with strict operational protocols.

"We have seen the change from pen-paper tests to subjective papers, then optical sensor and sheet recognition technology, then image processing and then computer-based testing," he said.

For large-scale examinations, identity verification, biometric authentication and handheld metal detectors have become standard measures to prevent electronic devices from entering examination centres, adding multiple layers of security.

Shift to computer-based exams under consideration

The Exam Reform Task Force is also evaluating a transition from single-session, OMR-based examinations to multi-session computer-based tests (CBT). Kamakoti said such a system could reduce the impact of any single paper leak while improving transparency and auditability.

"If multiple sessions can be permitted, then we can go through a computer-based test," Kamakoti said, adding that the system could be scaled to conduct two or three large sessions.