Pradeep Singh Kharola has been appointed as the new Director General of the National Testing Agency (NTA), taking over from Subodh Kumar Singh, who has been removed and placed on “compulsory wait” in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) amid ongoing controversies over exam irregularities. This change in leadership comes as the government faces allegations of paper leaks in the NEET-UG exams, prompting the cancellation of the UGC-NET and the postponement of the CSIR-UGC NET.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had earlier indicated that the top leadership of the NTA was under scrutiny due to these alleged irregularities. Although he denied any paper leaks in the CSIR-UGC NET, the postponement of the exam has added to the growing concerns about the integrity of the examination process.
The National Testing Agency, established in November 2017 under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860, is an autonomous body responsible for conducting various entrance examinations for admissions to higher educational institutions. These exams include NEET, JEE, CTET, GATE, GPAT, GMAT, CAT, UGC-NET, and CSIR-UGC NET. The NTA is chaired by Pradeep Kumar Joshi, a former chairman of the UPSC.
Pradeep Singh Kharola, a 1985 batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, has a distinguished career, including his tenure as the head of Air India starting in November 2017, during which the government attempted but failed to privatize the airline. He later became the civil aviation secretary in 2019 and has been serving as the chairman of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) since 2022. Kharola has now been given additional charge of the NTA until a regular appointment is made.