CISF security approved for NTA premises after NEET paper-leak case

The National Testing Agency’s new premises in New Delhi will be guarded by the Central Industrial Security Force, with tighter controls planned for areas handling confidential examination material, officials said. The security changes follow the NEET-UG question-paper leak controversy and administrative criticism of the agency. The NTA has moved sensitive operations from its former office in Okhla to space in the Government of India Press Building on Minto Road.

A senior official told PTI that the agency had been allotted 55,000 square feet across the building’s fifth floor and parts of the fourth and sixth floors. Confidential and sensitive operations had been transferred there during the previous month, the official said. According to a CBI chargesheet cited in the report, three subject experts were identified as primary sources of the leak.

The document said experts entering and leaving the confidential section were not checked or frisked, allowing them to copy material from prepared question papers onto small slips made from plain sheets supplied for rough work and translation. The CBI also noted that the NTA office lacked a dedicated control room for live CCTV monitoring. The official said confidential areas had now been demarcated and that movement and operations would be strictly monitored.

The Home Ministry has approved CISF cover for the premises, with 39 personnel deployed. Their duties will include security, access control, screening and frisking using an X-ray baggage scanner and door-frame metal detectors. CISF personnel will be positioned at entry and exit points serving the confidential areas.

The agency is also working on stricter technical safeguards, including access controls, encryption, tamper-evident storage and immutable logs. Officials said examination-support systems would undergo security readiness reviews before each examination cycle, covering areas such as biometric authentication, face matching, CCTV and live monitoring. The NTA has advertised a combined general manager and chief information security officer position, with the selection process described as advanced.

Independent cyber-security audits by CERT-In and C-DAC-empanelled agencies are continuing, while the agency is developing examination-day incident-response and enhanced Security Operations Centre monitoring.