NEW DELHI: The Centre has appointed officials to key positions in the National Testing Agency (NTA) amid scrutiny over the agency’s handling of examinations, including the controversy surrounding the NEET paper leak.
Anshuman Sharma, a 2005-batch Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) officer, was on Friday appointed Joint Secretary in the NTA for a five-year tenure, according to an order issued by the Personnel Ministry.
Sathiya S, Ravi Kumar Singh and Prasanna Venkatesh V have been appointed as directors in the examination body. Sathiya is an IRS officer, Singh belongs to the Indian Police Service, while Prasanna is an Indian Administrative Service officer.
Another Personnel Ministry order, issued on August 27, said Amit Samdariya, a 2016-batch IRS (Customs and Indirect Taxes) officer, had been selected for appointment as joint director in the NTA.
The appointments come against the backdrop of the Centre’s recently announced overhaul of the NTA’s examination system. The proposed reforms include a four-tier paper-checking process, removal of around 600 experts and induction of domain specialists to strengthen the examination mechanism.
The changes follow the controversy over the NEET paper leak, which triggered protests and demands for accountability. Following the political fallout, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on July 25.
A day later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a high-powered task force headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani to recommend measures to make public examinations more secure and leak-proof.
The task force on Friday invited suggestions on comprehensive reforms in public examinations, including measures to fix accountability and strengthen institutional arrangements.