The Centre on Tuesday, August 4, informed the Supreme Court that no final decision has yet been taken on conducting the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for undergraduate (NEET UG) in computer-based test mode from 2027.
The Central government informed the apex court that the shift from the existing pen-and-paper format to a computer-based test (CBT) will depend on the recommendations of a high-powered task force headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani. The submission came in the form of an affidavit filed by the Department of Higher Education ahead of the hearing on petitions related to the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and examination reforms.
Responding to the concerns raised by the apex court over the integrity of the medical entrance examination, the Centre, in its affidavit, mentioned that the migration from the Pen-and-Paper mode to a Computer-Based mode, whether in a single-stage or a two-stage examination on the pattern of the Joint Entrance Examination (Mains and Advanced), is presently under active consideration by all stakeholders.
It added that the final decision would be taken only after considering the recommendations of the Nilekani-led task force, indicating that no timeline has yet been finalised for the transition.
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The affidavit comes ahead of the August 6 hearing of pleas filed by the Federation of All India Medical Association and the United Doctors Front, among others.
In May, former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate or NEET-UG will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode from next year instead of the pen and paper test (PPT) mode in which students answer the questions in an Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet.
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NTA director general Abhishek Singh, in May, told HT that they will conduct the exam in CBT mode if the health ministry gives them written permission to do so. “It will take around 20 shifts to manage around 2.2 million NEET candidates, and we will have to follow the normalisation process to ensure fairness to all students,” he had said.
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Dharmendra Pradhan resigned from his position in July 2026. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has been appointed as the new Education Minister in addition to his existing portfolio. Mr Joshi is currently serving as the minister of consumer affairs, Food and public distribution and New and renewable energy.
