NEET row: Congress says no action against NTA chairman

The Congress on Monday, 24 June, alleged that there has been no action against chairman of the National Testing Agency (NTA) P K Joshi, who is "holding interviews" for appointment of VCs and directors of premier educational institutes across the country.

Congress leader Pawan Khera claimed that last week, Joshi interviewed candidates for the post of vice-chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University Wardha and today he will interview candidates for the directorship of the prestigious Indian Institute for Advanced Study (Shimla).

He asked whether it was true that the candidates to be interviewed for the coveted post in the institutes are Sanjeev Kumar Sharma and Rajnish Kumar Shukla.

"Despite NTA being in the eye of a self-created storm, not only has there been no action against its chairman, PK Joshi, he quietly continues to hold interviews for appointment of VCs and directors at premier educational institutions," Khera said in a post on X.

"Should NTA/PK Joshi be allowed to be part of any such selection exercise during the ongoing enquiry on the multiple paper leak episodes?" Khera asked.

The NTA has been in the eye of a storm over alleged paper leaks and subsequent cancellation of the UGC-NET exam and postponement of NEET-PG exams.

The Centre had on Saturday night removed NTA director general Subodh Kumar Singh and put him on "compulsory wait" till further orders.

The CBI on Sunday took over the probe into alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam NEET-UG following a reference from the Union Education Ministry.