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The move comes hours after a committee was constituted to give recommendations to improve the agency.

New Delhi:

Facing protests in several parts of the country as well as attacks from the opposition, the Centre has removed the chief of the National Testing Agency (NTA) from his post amid the controversy over the alleged irregularities in NEET and the cancellation of the UGC-NET Exam.

In a statement on Saturday, the Ministry of Personnel announced that Subodh Kumar Singh, who was the director general of the NTA, has been replaced by retired Indian Administration Service (IAS) officer Pradeep Singh Kharola. Mr Kharola is the Chairman and Managing Editor of the India Trade Promotion Organisation and has been given additional charge as the Director General of the NTA “till the appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders”.

The move comes hours after the government constituted a committee which will give recommendations to improve the functioning of the agency and a day before around 1,500 students who had been given grace marks for NEET will take a retest. The CSIR UGC NET exam – scheduled to be held from June 25 to June 27 – also had to be postponed due to “logistical reasons” on Friday. 

Sources have told NDTV that the repeated allegations of leaks in exams conducted by the NTA and the inconvenience caused to students, as well as the outpouring of anger among them, had made Mr Singh’s position tenuous. Pressure from a resurgent opposition as well as adverse remarks by the Supreme Court against the NTA also played a role in the decision. 

The move is also part of a promised overhaul of the National Testing Agency, which has been spoken about by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as well. Sources said that, at a recent Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked Mr Pradhan to take action, and the crackdown has now begun.